A 15-year-old white boy has admitted to attempting to drown a black teen in a Cape Cod pond while using racial slurs, with a friend mocking the victim as “George Floyd” as he struggled to breathe.
John Sheeran, the perpetrator of this heinous act, was 14 at the time of the July 2023 incident. He threw rocks at the 15-year-old victim, forced him into the pond, and then held the boy’s head underwater while using derogatory language, according to prosecutors.
Sheeran pleaded guilty to charges of attempted murder and assault with a dangerous weapon at Barnstable Juvenile Court, with the possibility of being sentenced as an adult, as reported by the Cape Cod Times. The sentencing outcome is yet to be determined.
Sheeran’s friend, also a teenager, faces a harassment charge for laughing and taunting the victim while he pleaded for his life. The accomplice, like Sheeran, will be charged as a juvenile.
The disturbing incident unfolded at a pond in Chatham, MA, where Sheeran instigated the attack by throwing rocks at the victim and coercing him into the water, despite the victim’s inability to swim.
Sheeran proceeded to dunk the victim’s head underwater while using racial slurs, while his friend mocked the victim as “George Floyd,” as documented in a police report seen by NBC 10.
A witness, also a minor, reported hearing the victim’s plea for help as Sheeran and his accomplice continued to submerge the victim’s head underwater, causing distress.
“When I finally get to them, they were smirking,” the witness recounted of the attackers’ demeanor.
