A new timeline lays bare the horror of the fatal attack on 16-year-old Preston Lord’s by a group of teenage offenders in Arizona.
Lord was attacked at a Halloween party last October and found on a nearby sidewalk in Queen Creek, a Phoenix suburb.
Talan Renner, 17, is accused of being the bully who delivered the devastating “hammer blows” that ended the young athlete’s life. Witnesses told police that Renner punched Lord at least four times as the victim was knocked to the ground, before kicking him at least once.
Renner then walked away and allowed the other alleged teenage offenders, who call themselves the “Gilbert Goons,” to take turns attacking Lord.
The other six murder suspects then took turns stomping, punching and even punching Lord as he lay on the ground, according to a police report and as reported by The Arizona Republic.
Preston Lord, 16, died on a Queen Creek road outside Phoenix after he was attacked at the party Oct. 28 and suffered serious injuries.
Talan Renner, 17, is accused of being the bully who delivered the devastating ‘hammer blows’ that ended Lord’s life
A memorial for Preston Lord is visible on the sidewalk where he was found unconscious
Repeat offenders William “Owen” Hines, 18, and Dominic Turner, 20, were seen kicking Lord. Jacob Meisner, 17, charged with other assaults on Goon, was also seen punching Lord several times.
Treston Billey, 18, another Goon previously accused of various assaults, was the last to attack, jumping on Lord’s head and shouting: “F*** you, f*** you!”
Then Taylor Sherman, 19, opened Snapchat on her phone to record rescuers dragging Lord’s body from the street.
He said: “I collapsed. Haha.’
Talyn Vigil then ran to his car and told his girlfriend, “I just knocked a kid out cold… we have to go, we have to leave.”
Lord died of his brain injuries in hospital two days later, but police made no arrests for months until March, sparking frustration in a community rocked by teen violence these last years.
All seven suspects have pleaded not guilty to Lord’s murder, and all except Vigil, who posted bond last week, remain in jail awaiting trial.
Lord’s murder suspects, Billey and Meisner, are seen above. Both had previously been charged with assaults linked to the so-called Gilber Goons.
Suspect Talyn Vigil ran to his car and told his girlfriend, “I just knocked a kid out cold…we have to go, we have to leave”
By 9:40 p.m., the Goons had caught up with Lord and his friends, and Dominic Turner snatched a $10 gold chain from the boy who had recorded the earlier altercation.
Sherman told police that as he left the scene, Renner said, “I might have hospitalized that kid…I hit him pretty hard.”
Lord’s friends told police that although they did not know any of the attackers, Billey focused on one of Lord’s friends after he began recording another altercation involving the murder suspects.
The boy told Billey he had deleted the video, but the thugs continued to target Lord and his friends, who tried to walk away from the party but were followed by the teenage offenders.
As they chased them, the Goons reportedly sang an ominous tone that said, “Na na na na, na na na na, hey hey, goodbye.” »
By 9:40 p.m., the Goons had caught up with Lord and his friends, and Turner snatched a $10 gold chain from the boy who had recorded the earlier altercation.
The Goons then began playing hot potato with the gold chain by taunting the boys and urging him to “do something” about the stolen chain.
Taylor Sherman, 19, opened Snapchat on her phone to record rescuers dragging Lord’s body from the street
Repeat offender William “Owen” Hines, 18, was also seen assaulting Lord.
Despite the taunts, the boy tried to move away but quickly felt a blow to the right side of his head. The punch was thrown by Meisner, witnesses told police, and it sparked the chaos that followed.
Lord and his friends began to run away, but the goons chased after him again, pushing a 14-year-old to the ground before hitting him in the head and leaving him with a broken wrist.
The Goons then caught up with Lord and knocked him to the ground with a punch before taking turns assaulting him. It is unclear who threw the first punch, with some witnesses pointing to Renner and others to Vigil.
The boys have a similar name and Renner’s father, Travis Renner, has been accused of using the similarity in names to try to pin the murder on Vigil, who is the only suspect out on bail.
The beating lasted a few seconds and the thugs headed towards their cars after “twerking” and “air punching” Lord’s body.
According to a former employee of Travis Renner, a cover-up began almost immediately after Lord’s murder.
Ashley Reynolds, who worked at Relentless Media Agency, claimed that his former bosses Travis Renner and Adam Kifer openly discussed their plans to hide evidence and place the blame on Talyn Vigil.
Travis Renner and his business partner allegedly plotted to take Talan to a cabin until the injuries he suffered from the beating healed. Detectives recorded that Renner’s family had “financial means to help him flee to Mexico” and he was taken out of the Phoenix area after the Preston attack.
The businessmen said the beating of Preston was part of a kind of initiation, because Talan wanted to participate in beatings like those inflicted by the Gilbert Goons, Reynolds said.
Court documents say none of the suspects knew Preston before attacking him over a gold chain.
Arizona businessman Travis Renner has been accused of helping his teenage son cover up the murder of a 16-year-old boy who was beaten to death after a house party.
Reynolds said he was asked to backdate electronic calendar entries to make it appear Talan was not in town on the day of the Halloween party. She said her former bosses even found a way for Renner to divest from the company to minimize the risk of lawsuits.
Renner’s business partner, Kifer, then allegedly asked Reynolds to sign a nondisclosure agreement. He told the Arizona Republic that he had “no connection to the allegations involving the Renner family.”
Reynolds spoke to the local media outlet before anyone was charged with Preston’s murder.
Queen Creek Police Chief Randy Brice confirmed detectives spoke with Reynolds, who provided information consistent with their findings.
“The statements made regarding our case corroborated what we already knew. … This is more of a corroboration than a contradiction,” the police chief said. “This is information we already knew from another round of interviews.”
Police searched the Renners’ home in November, but Talan was not arrested until Wednesday.
Renner’s other son, Kyler, was charged in connection with two separate gang attacks in a parking lot and a house party in 2022.
Travis Renner was also arrested in January on suspicion of drug and paraphernalia possession, while his son Kyler was taken into custody due to allegations of gang violence.
The father has not been charged with the alleged cover-up.
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