Police say an Australian student visiting the U.S. on a baseball scholarship was randomly shot dead on Friday by a group of three teenagers who later confessed to authorities they killed him “for the fun of it.”
Chris Lane, 23, was jogging in a small Oklahoma town Friday night after visiting his girlfriend of four years when a gang of teenagers mercilessly gunned him down and left him to die.
According to Sky News, witnesses saw Lane stumble across the road and collapse in the gutter. A woman attempted CPR and paramedics rushed on the scene, but the Australian student was never taken to the hospital — he was pronounced dead at the scene.
One of the three teenage culprits, all arrested later, reportedly told police him and his friends had committed the heinous act “for the fun of it.”
Police described the tragic incident in greater detail.
“He went by a residence where these three boys were, they picked him as a target, they went out and got in a vehicle and followed him,” Chief of Duncan Police Danny Ford reportedly said.
“[They] came up from behind and basically shot him in the back with a small calibre weapon, then sped away,” he added.
Lane’s girlfriend, Sarah Harper, posted a heartbreaking tribute to her boyfriend online, saying the four years she was with him were “the most amazing of my life.”
“I love you so much babe,” she wrote, adding “from 2009 until forever you will always be mine and a very special and protected place in my heart.”
Lane’s father also reacted to the senseless murder of his son.
“There’s not going to be any good come out of this because it was just so senseless,” he reportedly said.
All three teenagers are reportedly set to face first degree murder charges, which carry the potential of the death penalty.
