Police said on Sunday that the third juvenile suspect wanted in connection with the deaths of three teenagers in Florida had been caught after a huge manhunt.
Tahj Brewton, 16, was picked up south of Groveland, Florida, on Saturday because he had warrants out for his arrest. Last week, three teens were found dead or dying near each other in Ocklawaha.
The Marion County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement, “Brewton was arrested on his outstanding warrants for carjacking with a gun, aggravated assault, grand theft of a motor vehicle, fleeing or trying to elude a law enforcement officer, and tampering with an electronic monitoring device.”
The sheriff’s office had offered up to $10,000 for information that helped catch the “armed and dangerous” suspect who was on the run.
The police are still looking into the three murders, and they said that “additional charges are coming.”
On Friday, Christopher De’l Atkins, who is 12 years old, and Robert Le’Andrew Robinson, who is 17, were both arrested and charged with first-degree murder.
Officials think that both the victims and the suspects were part of a group that broke into homes.
One boy and two girls, all teens, were found dead in Marion County with gunshot wounds just days apart. They were found dead or dying on the side of a road near Ocklawaha, which is about 60 miles northwest of Orlando.
Description of the Triple Homicide
Layla Silvernail, who was 16 years old, was found dead by the side of the road on March 30. She had been shot. She died later from her injuries.
On March 31, the body of a 17-year-old boy who had been shot was found next to a road about a mile from where Layla was found.
On April 1, a 16-year-old girl was found shot and dead in the trunk of Layla’s car, which was partially submerged in a lake nine miles from where Layla was found.
The tweet below confirms the news:
A third juvenile suspect who was sought in connection with the recent shooting deaths of three teenagers in central Florida has been arrested, police say https://t.co/XJ1qM43IjV
— CNN (@CNN) April 9, 2023
Sheriff Billy Woods said that all three suspects and all three victims were in Layla’s car at the same time when the suspects “turned on our three victims.”
He also said that the reason was to steal.
“They ran away, but they left a lot of proof behind,” the sheriff said.
Even though the sheriff said that the shootings don’t seem to be related to a gang war, he did say that all of the suspects are part of gangs.
“Every single one of them was connected to a gang in some way,” the sheriff said.
He also said that the young suspects have been known to commit other crimes in the same area, like burglaries and robberies, which is how they got the gun they used to kill the people.
During the press conference, Sheriff Woods said, “In short, there is no honor among thieves.”
“Eventually, these three people turned against our three victims and killed them.”
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