NEVADA—The killers of a former police chief appeared in court on Wednesday, October 25, laughing, giggling and flipping off the family of the victim.
Jesus Ayala, 18, and Jzamir Keys, 16, appeared in court facing charges of mowing down a former police chief, Andreas Probst, videotaping while laughing, in what some call a hate crime.
On August 14, 2023, retired police chief, Andreas Probst was on a routine bike ride, when he was intentionally mowed down and killed by a vehicle driven by 18-year-old Jesus Ayala.
Ayala and his friend, Jzamir Keys videotaped the crime where you can hear both laughing and cheering as they killed Probst and left the scene.
Probst’s family received an alert from iPhone that there was a fall and suspected something was wrong. They discovered he was killed while out on a bike ride.
Earlier in the day, Jzamir Keys ran over a 72-year-old bicyclist, who survived with a knee injury. Ayala was in the passenger seat and filmed the crime.
Keys is Black, while Ayala is Hispanic and both showed support for BLM and anti-police. They specifically targeted White men to mow down “for fun.” At this time, authorities are not pursuing a hate crime, but there are 18 pending charges.
Police arrested Ayala who taunted the officers saying he will be out in 30 days, before telling him they should buy him some food.
On October 25, Ayala and the passenger of his car, who was cheering him on before, during and after they hit and killed Probst, appeared in court.
Probst retired after a long career in law enforcement. He was a decorated veteran. He was 64 years of age.
A trial date has been set for September 16, 2024. The maximum sentence the teens can receive if convicted is 20 years to life in state prison because they were considered to be minors at the time of the crime. They cannot receive the death penalty. Ayala, the driver who ran over Probst was one month shy of his 18th birthday. Ayala and Keys are both being charged as adults.