Two Las Vegas teenagers arrested for allegedly mowing down a retired police chief while joyriding in a stolen car have been charged as adults following their first court appearance on Thursday. Jesus Ayala, 18, and Jzamir Keys, 16, have been indicted for murder, attempted murder, grand larceny, and a slew of related charges in connection with the hit-and-run death of Andreas Probst in August, despite the teens’ expectation of avoiding serious penalties.
A disturbing cellphone video of the August 14 incident shows two individuals recklessly driving a stolen Hyundai Elantra down a Las Vegas street. After ramming into another vehicle and running it off the road, the two juveniles speed towards a man riding a bicycle further down the road.
“Ready?” asks the driver, believed to be Jesus Ayala, who was 17 at the time of the incident.
“Yeah, yeah, get his ass!” urges the passenger, identified as Jzamir Keys, who was filming the pair’s crime spree.
The car then smashes into the cyclist from behind, sending him flying over the car and shattering the windshield. He then falls motionless to the ground alongside his bike as the laughing teens speed away, leaving him for dead. “Damn, that n***a got knocked out!” the passenger says, at the same time the driver yells out “Oh s***, we need to get out of here.”
WARNING: This unedited footage may be disturbing to some viewers. Viewer discretion is advised.
The victim, who died of his injuries at a nearby hospital, was identified as 64-year-old Andreas Probst, a 35-year law enforcement veteran who had served as police chief in Bell, California before retiring to the Vegas area in 2009. “It’s a complete lack of conscience on a part of it and the worst part about it in the video is you hear that everything was intentional,” Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department Detective Lieutenant Jason Johansen said of the incident. Investigators believe that the suspects did not know Probst and that his law enforcement background did not motivate the killing.
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The crime spree Ayala and Keys committed on that day also included the theft of three other cars and another hit-and-run that left a 72-year-old man with non-life-threatening injuries.
Ayala was arrested within hours of the murder after a student from a local school alerted a school resource officer to the video posted on social media. Keys was arrested on Tuesday, five weeks after the murder, when investigators were finally able to identify him by his tennis shoes. In a move that has sparked additional online controversy, both teens were booked into the system as “White Hispanics.”
Jesus Ayala is a Latino teen who drove into and kiIIed retired cop Andreas Probst
He was booked into the system as white pic.twitter.com/OgjsVDAVJA
— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) September 22, 2023
At the time of his arrest, Ayala mocked police and told them he wouldn’t be held for long. “You think this juvenile s**t is gonna do something?” he asked. “I’ll be out in 30 days, I’ll bet you.”
“It’s just…a hit-and-run — slap on the wrist,” he continued.
But contrary to his expectations, Ayala now faces 18 felony charges. Keys faces an additional 3 charges. Both will be tried as adults. During their first court appearance on Thursday, prosecutors called the teens a danger to the community and requested high bail, expecting the cases to be consolidated before trial.
Under Nevada law, neither perpetrator is eligible for the death penalty given their age at the time, but they both face 20 years to life in prison if they are convicted.
Andreas Probst is survived by his wife, Crystal Probst, and daughter, Taylor Probst. Speaking at a memorial for her father, Taylor remembered him as a jokester and a prankster” who “always had a way to make you laugh.” She further attributed the hit-and-run to the “effect of social media on our youth” and called his killers “individuals who did not believe that lives of others matter.”
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