Five Mississippi teens could spend the rest of their lives in prison after being charged with murdering one of their peers, WLOX-TV reports.
On Monday afternoon, police in Biloxi responded to a home where they found 16-year-old Madison Harris unresponsive and shot.
Police say five teens went to Harris’ house with a gun, and an altercation broke that led to the shooting, prompting the suspects to flee the scene.
Harris was rushed to a local hospital and later pronounced dead.
A Ring doorbell recorded the suspects charging into the home through an unlocked door. Screaming ensued followed by a gunshot, all occurring within a span of 10 seconds. The group of teens ran away and were chased by Harris’ father and a friend, according to the report.
Police later arrested Yakeshia L. Blackmon, 17; Willow O. Blackmon, 15; Jasmine Joy-Sade Kelley, 15; Jarvis Jermaine Cook, 17; and Jaquez Devonte Porter, 17. All five have been charged with capital murder as adults.
Investigators are still piecing together what happened. One theory is that the teens were attempting to rob the home.
James Waldeck, who is engaged to the victim’s grandmother, told WLOX-TV that the teens may have been involved in a previous burglary of the home several weeks ago and were exacting revenge.
“The police were called and we were pressing charges against that first crime, and we’re afraid this may have been retaliation against us [for] reporting their crime,” Waldeck told the television station, adding that he is familiar with some or all of the suspects.
“They were in our house a number of different times, I thought as friends, yes,” Waldeck said. “They just lived two or three houses down and across the street.”
The incident has shaken this Mississippi community, which sits on the Gulf of Mexico.
“There was a vigil for her,” Biloxi Police Maj. Christopher De Back told PEOPLE. “There’s a lot of shock because this is out of the norm.”
Juveniles cannot be sentenced to death in Mississippi, but each of the five suspects could face life in prison.
The suspects were in court Wednesday for initial appearances. They remain in custody without bond and will have preliminary hearings within the next two or three weeks.
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