Orange County deputies arrest teenagers accused of brutally beating trio of Marines in San Clemente

Deputies in San Clemente have arrested multiple teenagers accused of brutally beating three Marines over the weekend. 

Investigators have so far booked four boys and one girl, all teens, into Juvenile Hall on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon, Orange County Sheriff's Sgt. Mike Woodroof said. San Clemente Mayor Chris Duncan had said earlier that others were arrested, but that was a mistake, Woodroof said Wednesday.

The city's mayor had announced that Orange County Sheriff's Department charged nine juveniles connected to the beating.

"They think they have the people they are looking for," said Duncan. "Not to say that there might not be a few others out there. They feel pretty confident that they have the main perpetrators."

Investigators are still looking through phone videos and security footage Wednesday to see if more arrests are warranted in Friday's beatings.

The Marines said they were walking along the pier at about 9:50 p.m. Saturday when they asked a group of teens to stop shooting off fireworks. Hunter Antonino, one of the self-identified Marines who was attacked, said the trio was "stomped on" and beaten up by the circle of assailants. 

Spectators thoroughly captured the brutal beating on video, which showed the Marines lying in the fetal position, desperately trying to protect themselves from an onslaught of kicks. 

Investigators used that video to track down the teenagers involved. 

"They had some videotape that wasn't readily available to the public that had a lot better images of the individuals involved," said Duncan.

Orange County deputies and the local school district worked together to cross-reference the images with school records to identify the suspects.

"In today's age, you're going to get caught — people are going to record it," said Duncan. "I hope this serves as a learning lesson for young folks in the community not to let themselves get out of control when something like this happens."

Deputies said that the investigation is still ongoing. Anyone with information regarding the case can call the department at (949) 425- 1956. Those wishing to stay anonymous can call Crime Stoppers at 1-855-TIP-OCCS.