The fatal beating of a 16-year-old at a Halloween party in Phoenix’s southeast suburbs caught everyone’s attention. What happened to Preston Lord that night in Queen Creek?
And why were arrests in his death taking so long to come?
Arizona Republic videographer Michael Chow captures the story in the documentary “Goons.”
Arizona Republic reporters were the first to tie the beating of Preston Lord to the “Gilbert Goons,” a gang of teenagers whose attacks on other teens had gone unchecked by police for more than a year.
Robert Anglen and Elena Santa Cruz interviewed fearful parents and frustrated community members and dived into social media to get the story. They detailed how the Goons recorded their blitz-style attacks on teens in parks and parking garages, outside fast-food restaurants and at house parties.
Gilbert was the nexus of the attacks, which also occurred in Mesa, Chandler and Pinal County. Authorities did not begin making arrests in Goons attacks until after The Republic’s report , when they reopened shelved cases and launched new investigations.