Preston Lord identified as teen killed at Queen Creek party; police investigating

A teen boy was assaulted and killed at a Saturday night party in Queen Creek, according to police.

Queen Creek police identified the boy as Preston Lord during a press conference Wednesday afternoon. Police also discussed an overview of what happened on Saturday and addressed rumors about the incident on social media.

“We want to remember that he (Preston) is at the focus of this investigation,” said Chief Randy Brice. He said the family had asked for privacy at this time.

Commander Mark Newman announced that police were investigating the incident as a homicide and continued to ask for tips from the community. Newman said that as of noon on Wednesday, they had received 76 tips from community members and were “diligently working through each of those tips to vet information to include several investigative leads.”

Multiple rumors reportedly spread on social media were addressed by Newman. These included whether police were on-site during the party in question and whether police did not respond to multiple calls made regarding the party.

Newman explained that just after 9 p.m. on Saturday, police received a non-emergency call about a "juvenile disturbance" in the area of Via del Oro and 194th Street. Officers went to the location and found multiple teenagers walking down the street, seemingly leaving a residence where they were gathering.

According to Brice, officers did not observe a party at the time nor did they notice any illegal activities. A few minutes later, they were sent to a "high-priority call" about a crime in progress and were diverted to another location.

Police were aware that there were other parties that took place that evening in town, and some of the tips they received were from other party locations, Newman said.

For the party in question, Brice told reporters that there were adults on-site, and between 100 and 200 teenagers at the party when it was just about to break up.

Just before 10 p.m., police received a 911 call about an assault in the same area of the party, according to police. Officers arrived at the location and found a teenage boy, later identified as Preston, lying in the roadway.

Officers administered life-saving efforts and took the boy to a hospital with serious injuries, police said.

On Monday, Preston died in the hospital, police said.

Some neighbors told The Arizona Republic that the street was flooded with teenagers on Saturday. They said kids were walking up and down the street, causing a normal amount of commotion like any teenage party would.

They said the kids were walking through their yards and some of them threw trash into the yards. Around the time of the assault, some neighbors said they couldn’t tell whether any commotion was connected to that of a regular party or of someone being assaulted. All they knew was that they saw a body lying on the ground near the stop sign at 194th Street and Via del Rancho, and it looked like all of Queen Creek’s police force arrived at the scene.

Neighbors said they later watched as police and medical personnel arrived and gave medical attention to the body until the ambulance arrived to take him.

Newman said police had received one call to the nonemergency line to the intersection of 194th and Via del Rancho for the assault incident. He said there were several additional calls for the neighborhood that did come in, but after police had responded to investigate the assault.

Police requested video from community members who may have caught the footage on doorbell cameras or video surveillance between Ocotillo and Chandler Heights roads and between Sossaman and Hawes roads, between 6 and 10 p.m. on Saturday.

Chief Brice then reiterated to the community that tips should go through the police department. He said that tips and posts to social media about the incident could potentially jeopardize the investigation.

“When tips aren’t sent to us directly, it reduces the number of resources that can be focused on the actual investigation,” he said. The department received at least 400 posts or comments on its social media channels, Brice said.

Brice said that they had multiple large gatherings already confused with the party associated with Preston, which could not only jeopardize the investigation but also the misidentification of those involved. He said that people should not take the information on social media and use it to approach or attack individuals who they believe might be associated with the actual incident they are investigating.

People can reach out to the department with any information and video by sending an email at [email protected] or by calling the nonemergency line at 480-358-3500.

“Again, this is all about getting justice for Preston.” Brice told reporters that police were “making good gains in the investigation” and continued to seek help from the community, particularly those with eyewitness or direct evidence. He told reporters that they would look at the “full extent of the law” to make sure they would get justice for Preston.

Police said no arrests were made as of Wednesday afternoon, and the investigation was ongoing.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Teen boy fatally assaulted at Queen Creek party