RIVERHEAD, N.Y. — The killing of an Ecuadorean immigrant by seven high school students was part of a spree in which the teenagers tormented other immigrants while armed with knives and BB guns, prosecutors said Thursday.
The teens were indicted Thursday on more serious offenses — including murder as a hate crime for one accused of wielding the knife — than they initially faced when arrested in the Nov. 8 killing of Marcelo Lucero.
Prosecutors said the teenagers drove around Patchogue and encountered a Latino man and attempted to rough him up, but the man escaped.
Shortly before midnight, the group came upon Lucero and a companion. Lucero’s friend managed to flee the scene unharmed, prosecutors said. Lucero tried to fight back but was soon overwhelmed by the mob, prosecutors said.
Jeffrey Conroy ended the fight by plunging a knife into Lucero’s chest, authorities say. District Attorney Thomas Spota said the other six were unaware that Conroy had stabbed Lucero until he told them as they fled the scene. The prosecutor said that because the other teens did not know about the stabbing until afterward, they were not being charged with murder.
