17-year-old beaten to death outside of school founded by LeBron James

AKRON, Ohio (WOIO/Gray News) - A 17-year-old Ohio boy was killed late Thursday after a fight in the parking lot of a school founded by LeBron James, according to police.

According to the Summit County Medical Examiner, the death of Ethan Liming is being investigated as a homicide.

Liming was found around 10:45 p.m. in the I Promise School parking lot in Akron, according to police.

Akron police said officers discovered Liming with severe injuries when they arrived to investigate a fight.

According to police, the teenager was “knocked unconscious and brutally assaulted” during an altercation with at least three males.

The suspects were playing basketball when Liming arrived at the parking lot with some friends, police said.

The two groups were involved in a fight, WOIO reports. Akron police did not say what triggered it.

Liming’s friends called 911 for help, and police said officers rushed to the scene, where the 17-year-old was pronounced dead.

LeBron James’ I Promise School is a part of the Akron Public School District, serving students in third through seventh grades.

The LeBron James Family Foundation shared the following statement on social media expressing condolences:

“Our community is everything to us. We were devastated to learn of the overnight incident that saw a life lost near our school. We are grieving with our community over another senseless act of violence. Our campus is safe and secure as we continue to do everything we can to support our students, families, and the entire Akron community.”

Below is the letter sent by Akron Public Schools Superintendent Christine Fowler Mack to faculty and staff:

“Our Akron Public Schools family expresses its deepest condolences and offers its prayers to the family and friends of a student who lost his life last night. We mourn as one for Ethan Liming, a 17 year old rising senior at Firestone Community Learning Center. Ethan was a student leader at his school and was in the Academy of Design there.

The death of a student affects all of Akron Public Schools. Ethan’s passing is, sadly, one of many we have experienced during this school year. May we all pause a moment from our daily pressures to give thanks for the lives of these children. May we forever find ways to keep our memories of them alive. Each of these losses reminds us about how precious, and sometimes fleeting, life can be.

Our crisis team is assisting staff at Firestone CLC and, as always, will make themselves available to students.”

Anyone with information is asked to call Akron police at 330-375-2490 or 330-375-2Tip.

You can also call Summit County CrimeStoppers at 330-434-COPS.

Copyright 2022 Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved.