Teen Football Player Accused of Murdering Preston Lord Played Game After Being Named Person of Interest: Report

Mar. 15, 2025

Preston Lord.Photo:Queen Creek Police Department

Queen Creek Police Department

A teenage football player now charged in connection with the October 2023 fatal beating death of 16-year-oldPreston Lordwas reportedly still allowed to play in a football game at his school after being named a person of interest in the case.

Talan Renner, 17, is one of seven suspects who were arrested and charged in March with first-degree murder and kidnapping after a months-long homicide investigation in Queen Creek, Ariz., local policeannounced. He has pleaded not guilty.

A spokesperson for American Leadership Academy Gilbert North in Gilbert, Ariz., told12 Newsin early April that Renner played a football game on Nov. 17, 2023 and won.

“As new evidence came to light, measures were taken to remove the student from our school and we terminated the football coach,” the spokesperson told the outlet.

The school’s dean told local police on Nov. 2, 2023, that Renner — who was absent that day — had been accused of murder on social media, 12 News reports.

Seven suspects are charged in connection with 16-year-old Preston Lord’s beating death in October 2023.

According toFox 10 Phoenix, someone also told police on Nov. 4 that Renner allegedly told a friend that he threw the initial punch that started the beating of Lord.

Police said in the report that the attack on Lord allegedly took place after the theft of a necklace from one of Lord’s friends, Fox 10 reports. Police believe none of the suspects knew Lord before his death, per12 News.

In an exclusivestatementshared with PEOPLE on April 2, Lord’s parents, Nick Lord and Autumn Curiel, said through their lawyer, Bryn K. DeFusco, that their son “was doing the right thing but was in the wrong place at the wrong time, in a neighborhood where he had always felt safe.”

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The additional six suspects charged in connection with Lord’s death are Talyn Vigil, 17, William Owen Hines, 18, Dominic Turner, 20, Taylor Sherman, 19, Treston Billey, 18, and Jacob Meisner, 17, policesaid. Turner, Meisner and Billey are additionally charged with aggravated robbery. Each suspect has pleaded not guilty.

“While we can’t begin to fathom why something like this would happen to Preston, we know and see each day how much he is loved and the impact he has had on so many,” Lord’s aunt wrote in aGoFundMecampaign that has garnered more than $150,000 in donations as of April 4.

source: people.com