Three teenagers are charged with murder after police say their plot to egg a home as part of an “ongoing lover’s quarrel” in Griffin, Georgia, escalated to gunfire.
Deputies arrived to a call of a “man down” in the road last week to discover a man had been shot and killed, the Spalding County Sheriff’s Office said in a press release Saturday. The victim was identified as Johnathan Gilbert.
The three teenagers — Sydney Maughon, 18; Jeremy Munson, 19; and McKenzie Davenport, 19 — were allegedly vandalizing Gilbert’s home when he came out to confront them, according to Spalding County Sheriff Darrell Dix.
“The suspects ran back to the car, and as Gilbert approached them, Sydney Maughon, a backseat passenger in the car, produced a firearm and shot him multiple times,” Dix said. “The suspects then drove away leaving Gilbert dead in the middle of Dobbins Mill Road.”
Dix did not offer details on a motive, only that there appeared to be an “ongoing lovers quarrel.”
Detectives traced a cell phone number belonging to one of the three suspects to a neighboring county, where a local police department located a car authorities believe to have been used in the incident. A gun was found in a search of the vehicle.
All three teens are charged with malice murder, battery and criminal trespassing. Maughon and Munson are additionally charged with murder, aggravated assault, and possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime.
While police said Maughon was the one believed to have pulled the trigger, Dix alleged that all three of the suspects are culpable for the murder because they went to his home with the intent to commit a crime.
“They went to egg a house, the victim confronted them while they were doing it, he lost his life, and they drove off and left his body in the middle of the road,” Dix said. “Together they bought that ticket; now together they can ride that ride.”
Court records were unavailable for the teenagers on Sunday and it is unclear if they have retained attorneys. County inmate records show Maughon, Munson and Davenport are in pretrial detention.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
