Last week, three teens were found dead in a rural Florida county, all having been shot and then dumped in separate locations. Now, the police have two minors in custody and authorities are currently hunting for a third suspect.
On March 30, a 16-year-old girl named Layla Silvernail was found dead of an apparent gunshot wound on the side of the road in a dumpster.
A 17-year-old boy, whose identity has not been released to the public, was found the next morning along a road about half a mile away from Silvernail, also dead from an apparent gunshot wound.
The third victim was a 16-year-old girl named Camille Quarles. Her body was found in the trunk of Silvernail’s car, which was partially submerged in a pond near where the other two bodies had been dumped. She appeared to have been killed in the same manner as the others.
On Friday, Marion County Sheriff Billy Woods announced that two suspects, 17 and 12 years old, were arrested in connection with the murders and authorities are still searching for a third 16-year-old suspect.
One of the suspects, Robert Robinson, was arrested at a juvenile facility on Thursday after he was arrested for fighting at his school. The other, Christopher Atkins, was arrested at his home.
The third, Tahj Brewton, remains on the run.
The two suspects in custody have confessed to shooting Quarles in the trunk of Silvernail’s car, and have been charged with first-degree murder. It has not been decided yet whether to try the suspects as adults.
During a press conference, Sheriff Woods revealed that both the suspects and victims had been involved with a gang “in some shape or form.” This group was allegedly involved in burglaries and robberies.
Addressing potential motives, Woods said, “We have nothing to say that it was any rivalry or anything to such that cause. However, each and every one of them was associated – in some shape or form associated in some way with a gang.”
“There’s no honor among thieves,” Woods added. “At some point, these three individuals turned on our three victims and murdered them.”
The sheriff also reported that the gun used in the killings had been stolen during a car burglary, using this case as an example of why stricter gun control laws wouldn’t prevent shootings.
“All the gun laws we got in place didn’t prevent it, did it?” said Woods. “Neither will any new ones. Because here’s the fact: the bad guy’s gonna get a gun no matter what law you have put in place.”
“These juveniles shouldn’t even possess a handgun,” he continued. “But they did.”
After 3 teens murdered 3 other teens with a stolen gun, this is what Marion County Sheriff Billy Woods had to say to a reporter about gun control being a failure. Bravo!
pic.twitter.com/XO91PyM39v— Robby Starbuck (@robbystarbuck) April 7, 2023
