Defiant police chief defends handling of 'Gilbert Goons' - despite claims of a cover-up and horrific examples of how gang targeted other kids before boy, 16, was beaten to death at Halloween party

An Arizona police chief has defended his department's handling of teen violence amid claims that his inaction could have led to the killing of 16-year-old Preston Lord.

In an exclusive interview with DailyMail.com, embattled Gilbert Police department chief Michael Soelberg denied that his community has an issue with teen violence.

Gilbert, a wealthy Phoenix suburb once billed as the country's second-safest city,  has been in national news over teen delinquents who call themselves the 'Gilbert Goons' and have allegedly terrorized the community since as far back as 2022.

But Soelberg says the videos of teen attacks and claims made by alleged victims about their reign of terror were not shared with police until after the fatal beating of Lord 16, at a Halloween party in October in nearby Queen Creek.

Seven teens and young men, including several Goons suspects, have been charged with his murder, sparking accusations from some in the community who believe the alleged killers should have been removed from the streets long ago.

In an exclusive interview with DailyMail.com, Gilbert Police department chief Michael Soelberg denied that his community has an issue with teen violence

The Goons' reign of terror: DailyMail.com can reveal how the gang of youngsters ran amok in the Arizona town before Preston Lord's death in October

One father, Rick Kuehner, claims he had been trying to get Gilbert police and school officials to protect his son from the Goons since last summer, when his child was first threatened and then brutally beaten up at an In-N-Out parking lot which was a go-to spot for the teen delinquents.

In a lawsuit against Goon suspects, their parents and Arizona officials, Kuehner argues that authorities failed to protect his son, and then also failed to punish the Goons. 

He and other members of the community have told DailyMail.com they believe Soelberg is one of the officials who should resign over their alleged negligence. 

But chief Soelberg claims his department has properly investigated and appropriately closed the alleged killers' previous charges.

He told DailyMail.com: 'It was never documented that this was the term that they were doing before Preston was killed. That was all information that came up after Preston Lord was killed.

'We looked at all of our cases involving those seven subjects involved in that case, and we had properly investigated all cases that we had with them prior to Lord's murder. We had no pending cases.'

Soelberg added that once the community started sharing videos and information, his department was able to act. 

The chief added that his department currently has eight open teen violence cases, but they are not all related to the alleged Goons.

Rick Kuehner told DailyMail.com he had been fighting school and police regarding Goon's violence officials for months after his son was brutally assaulted

The seven suspects of Preston Lord's death, from top left to bottom right: Jacob Meisner, Talan Renner, Taylor Sherman, Treston Billey, Talyn Vigil, Dominic Turner, William Owen

'All these videos that you've seen online that have been shared by the community...  that information was not provided to the police department or even shared publicly before. 

'And once we received that information, we actively investigated the cases, and since January of this year, we made 29 arrests on cases involving group violence.'

Soelberg also responded to claims by Kuehner, who previously told DailyMail.com he asked for a detective to look into his son's attackers but was not assigned one until after Lord was killed. 

The chief admitted that Kuehner was not informed when his son's case was made inactive - and was only contacted by police when it was reopened following Lord's death in October. 

Soelberg said: 'I'm confident we've properly investigated all of the cases that were reported by [Kuehner] and his son. The case was never closed, it was re-activated in October. 

'After Preston Lord was killed, we looked at all of our teen violence cases, not just his, and at that time, we reactivated the case, and that detective reached out to him. We never denied any service to him or denied providing a detective. We were actively investigating.

'[Kuehner] is correct in the fact that he was not notified that it was inactivated but we did notify him once we reactivated the case and each step along the way since then.'

Soelberg added that his department has not yet designated the Goons as a street gang, but is currently investigating the group to determine if they should be classified as such.

'With the Gilbert Goons, that investigation is still ongoing as to whether they are or are not a gang based on Arizona law,' Soelberg said. 'We have not classified any of these individuals that the gang at this point, we are investigating.'

Goons suspects Treston Billie and Jacob Meisner are named in Kuehner's lawsuit after several assault arrests in Gilbert. They are both also accused with Lord's murder

Kuehner's lawsuit claims official's inaction on teen violence led to the murder of Lord. A memorial for teen is seen on the street where he was found unconscious 

Multiple agencies, including the Mesa police department, are investigating whether the group should be classified as a criminal street gang.  

The East Valley Fusion Center, a group of police departments meant to share information, has previously called out Gilbert police for not sharing information about the Goons.

An email from the center, obtained by ABC15 in March, read: 'Outside of Mesa and Salt River, most agencies still tend to work within silos and don’t universally share intelligence freely. For example, extremely high-profile cases such as Gilbert Goons have occurred, however Fusion was not sent a single bulletin by any impacted agency. We can’t assist if we don’t know it’s occurring.'

Despite national news about teen violence in Gilbert, Soelberg denied the issue is particularly bad in the area. 

He said:  'Overall, Gilbert is a safe community, but we're not immune to the problems that we've seen throughout the country, so we're no different than anybody else. 

'We're a large community with nearly 300,000 people, and within our community we have 80,000 teenagers and younger. And so when you have that many kids, you're bound to have some conflict amongst teens and that's what we see nationwide.

'To put it in perspective, we average about 16,000 calls for service per month in Gilbert. And out of those calls over the last couple of years, we have averaged less than one call a month and related to group teen violence.'

Soelberg also sent a message to the public, claiming some of the information that's circulated about the Goons is not accurate.

'Keep in mind also that some of that information is inaccurate. It's been posted on social media,' the chief said.

'That term, Gilbert Goon, has been associated with nearly all of the teen violence cases. I'm telling you that not all of our teen violent cases are related to the same group of individuals.'

After Lord's brutal beating and subsequent alleged attempted cover ups were detailed by The Arizona Republic, authorities reopened multiple cases believed to have been conducted by a larger group of assailants.

Victims and residents in the area have described the group as mostly white, upper-middle-class teenagers from multiple East Valley high schools.

The attackers allegedly include the sons of a mayoral candidate and an elementary school principal. Their assaults appeared unmotivated and were often recorded and shared by the attackers themselves. 

Arizona businessman Travis Renner has been accused of trying to help his teen son cover up the murder 

Travis Renner's other son Kyler has been charged in connection with two gang attacks at a parking garage and a house party in 2022

'The conspiracy culminated in the murder of 16-year-old Preston Lord by certain members of the Goons,' the lawsuit states, as reported by the Arizona Republic. 

'Preston's killers should have been in juvie,' said lawyer Richard Lyons. 'Why weren't they arresting and charging these kids?'

Several lawsuits have been filed claiming that law enforcement and school officials allowed the Goons to continue unleashing their violence since as least 2022.

Activists held vigils and marched to protest growing gang violence in Gilbert, Mesa, Chandler and other Phoenix suburbs following Lord's killing.

At least three of the murder suspects in the case, Jacob Meisner, Dominic Turner and William Himes, were previously charged in connection to Gilbert Goons attacks.

Talan Renner, 17, is one of the young men accused. His brother Kyler is also believed to be a member of the Goons.

Their father Travis Renner, meanwhile has been accused of trying to cover up Talan's involvement in Lord's alleged murder.