Teen Commits Random Murder During First Period, Returns to Class as if Nothing Happened

A Nevada man is now facing nearly 20 years in prison after committing a shocking and random fatal stabbing during a break between his high school classes as a teenager.

On Tuesday, 21-year-old Ethan Goin pleaded guilty to a charge of second-degree murder with a deadly weapon in connection with the brutal killing of 48-year-old Vergel Guintu in August 2021.

At the time of the crime, Goin was just 16 years old. The incident took place on Kenton Place in Las Vegas, as previously reported by Law&Crime.

The plea was entered in front of 8th Judicial District Court Judge Carli Kierny. Both the prosecution and defense reached an agreement for an 18-year prison sentence, as reported by the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

If the plea agreement had not been reached, Goin’s trial was set to commence on March 8.

According to an arrest declaration from Clark County Family and Youth Services, on August 27, 2021, Goin left his first-period class, randomly selected a house, fatally stabbed Guintu, and then returned to school as if nothing had happened.

Late in the morning on the day in question, Guintu, his wife, and mother-in-law heard a noise, according to the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department. Guintu went to check on the sound and was stabbed in the neck. The victim’s wife said she saw the assailant, clad in all-black and a mask, exit through a window in the house.

Guintu had just taken his 9-year-old to school and was in the kitchen when he heard the noise, according to law enforcement. His wife was upstairs and his mother-in-law was downstairs. The mother-in-law said she heard another noise moments later and then found her son-in-law lying in a pool of blood. The wife saw her husband as she made her way downstairs and then called 911.

The day after the stabbing, a neighbor told investigators about a suspicious person in the area in the moments before the 911 call was made, according to the Review-Journal. That neighbor described a white male with blond hair who was walking due south of the crime scene. Authorities would later note this description aligned with blond hair found on Guintu’s corpse during his autopsy. The neighbor said the suspicious man wore all black, put something inside a backpack before leaving, and had red marks on his arms.

The next day, police say they saw Goin getting into a ride-hailing vehicle. He was wearing all black and carrying a black backpack at the time. After an initial bout of cooperation, Goin was asked about blood on his boots and ran, police said. He was eventually found hiding in a parking structure at Summerlin Hospital and arrested.

During a custodial interview, the defendant allegedly told police he left school that day because he was being bullied. Goin said he recalled jumping a wall and staying in someone else’s backyard for a while, but insisted what happened next was “a blur.”

He did, however, remember going through a window and commented about it to detectives, “indicating he had done something bad, that’s his wording, at this residence,” according to law enforcement.

The defendant said he discovered a knife in his bag that had blood on it after he got home that day. At the time of his arrest, he was on his way to a friend’s house in order to hide the knife, police said.

“Goin did not wish to inform the police of his actions because he knew his life would be over,” police wrote in the arrest report.

The defendant, police said, repeatedly Googled “Summerlin News” while in custody to learn Guintu had been stabbed to death.

In court this week, the defendant told the judge he was voluntarily admitting his guilt after participating in a settlement conference, understood what was happening, and had a 10th-grade education.

The case trudged on through the legal system for years after Goin was subject to multiple mental health competency determinations. A court finally found him competent to stand trial in March 2025.

Now, Goin is slated to be sentenced on March 24, 2026.