16-Year-Old Boy Beat His Friend to Death With a Baseball Bat in Jealous Rage, Police Say

Associated Press
Updated
The 16-year-old beat 15-year-old Giovanni Diaz after they went into a wooded area Monday afternoon, police said

(LAKE WALES, Fla.) — A Florida sheriff says a 16-year-old boy who apparently was jealous that another teen was in a relationship with a girl he liked, invited the boy to smoke marijuana in the woods before bludgeoning him to death with a baseball bat.

Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said during a news conference Tuesday that the teen beat 15-year-old Giovanni Diaz in the face and head Monday afternoon. Judd says the teen then ran into a witness, asking what he should do. The witness told him to call 911, which he did.

Judd says the teen told deputies he hit the boy in self-defense before finally confessing to the crime.

The teen has three previous battery charges, two of which were on Diaz.

He faces charges of first-degree murder and marijuana possession. It was not clear if he had a lawyer.