Parents struggle to cope with son’s beating death

Jen Lawson

Friday, Aug. 27, 2004 | 11:14 a.m.

Lee Masangkay was a popular, artistic 17-year-old who sang in his church choir and wanted to be a minister, his family and friends say.

They said they are left wondering why gang members attacked him in the Boulevard Mall food court Saturday night, inflicting head injuries that resulted in his death three days later. An autopsy confirmed that he died of blunt force head trauma.

Lee was not in a gang, according to Metro Police and his family, but the group of young men who attacked him are believed to members of an Asian gang. There had been no arrests reported in connection with his death as of this morning.

Thursday afternoon, family members and friends from the University United Methodist Church were gathered at the Masangkay's home near Paradise Road and Swenson Avenue, looking at photographs of Lee, a clean-cut teen with a dimpled smile.

"My son was a very respectful child," Leonida Masangkay said. "He was a jolly person. He had a good heart. I don't know why this happened."

He loved Krispy Kreme doughnuts, and almost every night before she left work, Lee would call her and ask, "'Can you bring me some Krispy Kreme?" Leonida said.

The Rev. Julian Miguel called Lee "a very compassionate person, a very good Christian young man. We are all sad, the whole congregation."

Lee's parents were just outside the mall food court when the attack occurred, they said.

They had dropped him off at the mall, where he met a girl, Leonida Masangkay said. She and her husband Carmelito decided to wait in the food court and to give their other son, Lyle, a ride home. He was working at a restaurant and his shift was about to end.

Lee and the girl were eating at a table and, like any teenager might, he appeared embarassed that his parents were there, Leonida said, so they didn't ask to be introduced to the girl.

"I was eating ice cream and I got cold, so I said (to Carmelito), 'Let's sit outside,' " Leonida said.

They were sitting on a metal bench just outside the food court when they heard a commotion. Leonida looked back and saw three or four young men punching and kicking someone and hitting him with food court chairs.

Then, she caught a glimpse of Lee's clothing.

She screamed to her husband: "It's your son! It's your son!" she said.

Carmelito ran over and punched a young man who had hit Lee with a chair, he said, but the attackers got away and darted outside to a waiting car.

Lee had cuts and bruises, and Carmelito Masangkay said "it didn't seem like it was that bad. We thought he would be okay. We didn't know at the time it would be the last time we'd see our son (conscious.) It's very tragic."

He began having seizures in the ambulance and throwing up blood, his parents said. Then almost every hour after that, his condition kept getting worse.

"Of course, we were hoping for a miracle," Leonida Masangkay said.

His church congregation, comprised of about 100 members, gathered into a big circle in the church and prayed for him, said Cora Granadosin, worship committee chairwoman.

But by Tuesday morning, his mother said, Lee was brain dead.

Lee's parents said they think the security force at the mall needs to be beefed up. Although the attack was sudden and ended in a flash, they didn't notice any security guards in the food court at the time.

Police are still trying to find witnesses who are able to give decent descriptions of the attackers. Leonida and Carmelito Masangkay said they were focused on their son and can't remember what the young men looked like.

Sgt. David Stansbury of Metro's gang crimes section said the mall surveillance video shows the melee, but the quality is poor.

The Masangkay family immigrated to the United States from the Phillippines in 1999. Lee enjoyed drawing and karate, and his outgoing personality charmed his classmates at Valley High School. He also attended Silverado before his area underwent rezoning.

His family and friends were outraged at a Las Vegas Review-Journal report Thursday that Lee was in a gang.

"Why would they say that? It's not true," Leonida Masangkay said.

Joshua Rosales, 16, who attended school and church with Lee, said his friend was "really cool ... He made friends really quickly and he could hang with anybody."

The Boulevard Mall was a regular gathering spot for Lee and his friends, where they would walk around, talk and meet girls.

Rosales said the attack might have occurred because he said the wrong thing to members of a gang, not realizing who they were.

The worship leader at the boy's church said the congregation's prayers weren't confined to the victim and his family.

"Our church is praying for the family of the kids who did this, too," Granadosin said.