QUEEN CREEK, AZ — According to a Queen Creek police report, homicide victim Preston Lord was "attacked by multiple people without provoking or instigating the situation,” and the teen and his friends were trying to leave a party that got out of control.
The ABC15 Investigators have spent several days reconstructing a timeline of events using a newly released police report in the deadly beating from October 28.
The 1,100-page report explains a backyard Halloween party was disturbing a typically quiet Queen Creek neighborhood. Neighbors called 911 about the party after more than 100 teens arrived. Many of the teens were wearing costumes, and some were drinking alcohol.
FULL COVERAGE: East Valley teen violence
Preston was one of multiple partygoers assaulted that night as tensions escalated. According to the police report, the first escalating event was a “verbal argument between two individuals" at the backyard party. Preston and his friends observed the argument, and someone, whose name was redacted from the report, recorded the argument to post on Snapchat.
Police say that's when suspect Treston Billey “confronted" the Snapchat poster demanding he "delete the video."
A few minutes later, there is a possible physical fight in the backyard between unidentified people, according to the report.
Watch more ABC15 coverage of the newly released police report in the video player below:
After that happens at 9:46 p.m., "video surveillance shows a large group of people exiting" the party, and the adult homeowner is "walking behind them, then closes the large gate."
Out on the street, Billey and his group start following the victim group and “taunting them."
Based on witness testimony, police believe suspect Dominic Turner snatched a necklace chain off the accused Snapchat poster. That poster is walking with Preston and several other teens in what police dubbed the “victim group.” According to the report, the chain is passed to Billey, and a third suspect, Jacob Meisner, punches the same Snapchat poster.
The police report said this "is believed to be the first punch that is thrown."
A friend of Preston's is also punched and ends up on the ground with a broken wrist, investigators wrote.
At that point, "everyone started running" and Preston and his friends were being chased by Billey and others.
Around 9:49 p.m., Preston "was punched at least once he fell to the ground where he is kicked and punched by multiple subjects,” according to the report.
Investigators concluded in a December investigative summary that four suspects, Talan Renner, Treston Billey, Jacob Meisner, and William Owen Hines, “repeatedly struck Preston on the head and body” even after he was unconscious. Preston never regained consciousness and died days later.
They are four of the seven people who have been charged with first-degree felony murder in this case.
EDITORS NOTE: Since this story first aired, the Queen Creek Police Department has clarified that some of the 911 calls they released as part of a public records request were in reference to a party at a different location and are not related to the attack on Preston Lord.
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