Two men have been arrested in the killing of a teenage boy over an iPad in Las Vegas, police said Sunday.
Jacob Dismont, 18, and Michael Solid, 21, were booked Saturday into the Clark County jail on charges of open murder, robbery and conspiracy to commit robbery.
According to investigators, Marcos Arenas, 15, was walking down a street with the iPad on Thursday when a passenger got out of a vehicle and tried to steal the device from him.
Dismont is accused of trying to wrestle the tablet away and dragging Arenas toward the SUV when the youth wouldn’t let go of the device. After Dismont re-entered the vehicle and Solid sped away, the teen was dragged until he fell. The vehicle ran over Arenas and he died at a hospital.
“I think both the public and police department share the same sentiment that this was a senseless act of violence,” police spokesman Bill Cassell told The Associated Press.
The suspects succeeded in making off with the device, officers said.
Ivan Arenas said he bought the iPad for his son less than two months ago. The family has never had a lot, the father said, and his son valued everything he had.
“For him to lose his life over an iPad, it’s just not fair,” he told the Las Vegas Review-Journal. “Never in my life would I imagine that me buying my kid an iPad for his birthday would end up with him getting run over.”
Similar thefts of iPads, IPhones and other Apple devices have become so widespread nationwide that the crime has earned the nickname, “Apple picking,” Cassell said.
“This is a nationwide phenomenon where thieves are targeting individuals who are carrying them,” he said.
Police urge victims of such crimes to always let go of the devices.
