Mother of teenager, 17, who ‘intentionally rammed into retired police chief Andreas Probst’ while he cycled down the road breaks her silence as he and his friend are charged as adults
- Jesus Ayala, 17, and Jzamir Keys, 16, have been charged for the death of Andreas Probst , 64, on August 14
- Ayala’s mother has said that she ‘doesn’t know,’ if her son can be forgiven for his alleged crimes
The mother of a teenager who is accused of intentionally ramming into and killing a retired police chief with his car while his friend laughed has broken her silence.
Jesus Ayala, 17, and Jzamir Keys, 16, have been charged after being accused of intentionally striking Andreas Probst, 64, while he was riding his bicycle down an empty highway in the northwest of the city at around 6am on August 14.
Ayala’s mother has said that she ‘doesn’t know,’ if her son can be forgiven for his alleged crimes – after police announced the juveniles will be charged as adults.
She told 8News Now: ‘I don’t know why he did this. I don’t know if God can forgive this.’
Ayala, the accused driver of the 2016 Hyundai Elantra, has a lengthy record in the juvenile system. He was arrested the same day as the hit.
Andreas Probst , 64, was mowed down and killed while he was riding his bicycle down an empty highway in the northwest of the city at around 6am on August 14
Probst, 64, was was fatally struck on August 14 while cycling in northwest Las Vegas. Footage filmed by the passenger shows he was intentionally killed by the teenage driver
Meanwhile Keys, who was detained this week following a police appeal for information, is believed to be the passenger who goaded the attack and filmed a sick video.
The duo were transferred to the Clark County Detention Center on Wednesday and they will face charges of murder with a deadly weapon, battery and attempted murder in Las Vegas Justice Court.
Keys, the accused passenger, was in the child welfare system at the age of eight after his mother was charged with five counts of child abuse in 2016.
Police said they also tied the teens to at least three hit-and-run incidents the same day. They believe the slaying of Probst, a former police chief in Bell, California, ended the spree.
Graphic video shows a dashboard view from the front seat of a vehicle approaching Probst from behind while he was riding near the curb on an otherwise traffic-free road.
Laughter and comments from inside the car are heard before Probst, wearing a red shirt and dark shorts, was struck and thrown against the windshield.
A final image from the moving car shows the retired top cop on the ground beside the curb.
Probst’s heartbroken daughter said at a police press conference that she believes her father’s reckless death was caused by the ‘decaying of family values’ in society.
Andreas Probst (pictured) was fatally struck by a teenage driver in an intentional hit-and-run in Las Vegas on August 14. Both the driver and his accomplice in the passenger seat who took a sick video of the slaying have now been charged with murder
She said: ‘It was a random act of violence,’ and urged people to not politicize his death to create ‘cultural wars.’
Deputy Police Chief Nick Farese called the ‘intentional’ hit in a stolen vehicle and the sick video ‘a cowardly act that in my 22 years of law enforcement left me personally appalled’.
At a news conference Tuesday, Taylor Probst described her father — known by loved ones as ‘Andy’ — as a man of honor and integrity who worked for more than 35 years in law enforcement.
‘We are devastated by the senseless murder of Andy,’ she said. ‘Andy’s life was robbed by two individuals who did not believe that lives of others matter.’
Probst urged the DA’s office to ‘take these crimes to the furthest extent of the law’.