Father Of Teen ‘Murdered’ In Parking Lot Of LeBron James’ School Provides Details On Son’s Death

The father of Ethan Liming, the 17-year-old who was killed after being attacked in the parking lot of LeBron James’ I Promise School in Akron, Ohio, didn’t mince words Tuesday when he explained to a reporter on how his son died on June 2.

“My son Ethan Liming was murdered by three African American males and a female who stood by and did nothing,” Bill Liming told the Akron Beacon Journal.

This week, Akron police wouldn’t go as far as calling the incident a murder, but the department would go as far as characterizing it as not “remotely reasonable or justified.”

And now Bill Liming is pleading with the community to help solve this case while providing the details as he knows them surrounding Ethan’s death. What’s known for sure is that Ethan, who attended high school in the Akron Public School system, was with three other friends — one white, two black — who met up in the I Promise parking lot to figure out what they were going to do that night.

Bill says there was some “horseplay” in the parking lot with his son trying to stop it and that’s when he was attacked.

“They did everything they possibly could to help Ethan,” Bill told the newspaper of Ethan’s friends coming to his rescue. “They called 911 to get help. And when Ethan was knocked out and on the ground, his two African American friends tried to pick up his body and put him in the car to help save his life. He was still alive. He was still breathing.

“The people who murdered him didn’t like that and drove them away. They physically assaulted and beat the white child who was there with him. … Help did not arrive in time. They did the best they could to help him when they were there. My heart’s broken. We don’t want any other children, or anybody else, to be hurt in that area. It’s not safe. It’s not secure.”

After tweeting out thoughts and prayers, including the LeBron James Family Foundation characterizing the death as occurring “near our school,” LeBron has had no further comment and has shown no further concern for the murder — in Bill’s words — that took place on his school property.

Our condolences goes out to the family who lost a loved one!! My the heavens above watch over you during this tragedy! Pray for our community! 💚👑 https://t.co/bpq5qsoNfO

— LeBron James (@KingJames) June 3, 2022

The typical LeBron fanatics spent Tuesday in my direct messages saying I’m a loser, that I can’t write, that Tuesday’s blog post was stupid, that this has nothing to do with LeBron, etc.

A couple of hours later, the accolades across social media started rolling in for everything that LeBron’s doing for the community. It was announced Tuesday that LeBron’s foundation will be partnering with a healthcare company to open a medical facility.

It’ll be named the I Promise HealthQuarters. It’ll join the I Promise Housing and I Promise School in LeBron’s growing list of I Promise properties in the city.

LeBron will be lauded as a savior for the community. The national fanboys will say that LeBron opened a hospital, that he’s the greatest ever and he saved his hometown.

It begs the question why LeBron and his foundation aren’t being more vocal with the community to stand up to stop violence, especially when it happens on school grounds? Why won’t LeBron use his voice or the foundation’s platform to plead for someone to step up to talk to authorities?

It would be very simple for LeBron to stand up and say:

You’re damn right I’m pissed off. I want this crime solved and I want it solved right now. I stood up for this community and brought it a new school, housing for those who need it, a new medical center and dammit enough is enough. Let’s work with police to solve this crime. I refuse to let this be a black eye for this school that I’ve busted my ass to make a reality. Someone step up and say something to bring justice for this family.

It takes a village to help raise a kid and make a true difference! Love my kids and their families! 🙏🏾✊🏾🤎👑. @LJFamFoundation https://t.co/6sUCS8SiVo

— LeBron James (@KingJames) June 7, 2022

Instead, it’s a typical press release tweet and move on.

“We live in a sick world,” Ethan Liming father told the Akron newspaper. “People look at each other based on the color of skin or the fact somebody disagrees with somebody else. And because you disagree with me you must be evil.

“And we have so dehumanized each other in our society, that’s why my son was murdered. Some people looked at him as somebody whose life didn’t matter. And it just breaks our hearts. And we don’t want this to happen to anybody else’s child.”

Those with information on the death of Ethan Liming can call detectives at 330-375-2490 or 330-375-2Tip; call the Summit County Crime Stoppers at 330-434-COPS; or text TIPSCO with tips to 274637.