(CHESTERFIELD COUNTY, S.C.) — A 13-year-old girl is dead and six people are under arrest after police alleged the suspects unleashed a barrage of gunfire with an assault weapon into her South Carolina home, striking her as she was playing video games in a room with a younger child.
The girl’s death has rocked the small community of Cheraw in Chesterfield County and even stunned the suspects, who allegedly attacked the child’s home while looking for the intended target they believed lived there, authorities said.
“They just seemed in shock at the whole situation. Sometimes I feel like they think it’s just a big game,” Chesterfield County Sheriff’s Capt. Wayne Jordan said of the suspects in an interview with ABC affiliate station WSOC in Charlotte, North Carolina. “Once your life is over, it’s over. You don’t start over, you don’t start the game over. These kids do not comprehend what they’re doing.”
The sheriff’s office announced the arrests Wednesday of five men and a woman ranging in age from their late teens to mid-20s. Five of the suspects are charged with murder and attempted murder and a sixth suspect was arrested on charges of obstruction of justice, authorities said.
The shooting unfolded early Tuesday morning when the suspects allegedly drove to the girl’s home in Cheraw, a northeast South Carolina community of roughly 5,000 people, and fired multiple shots into the residence, Jordan said. At least one of the suspects was wielding an assault rifle, Jordan said.
At the time of the shooting, the teenage victim, whose name has not been released by authorities, was in a room with a younger child playing video games and was hit by a stray bullet, Jordan said.
The shooting stemmed from an ongoing dispute between two groups and the suspects allegedly believed one of their rivals was inside the house, Jordan said.
“From what I understand, the 13-year-old child was not the target. There was another target at the house, or they (the suspects) felt was at the house,” Jordan said.
The five murder suspects were identified by the sheriff’s office as Kyron Robinson, Michael Flowers, Jr., Michael Johnson, Timothy Byrd and Trevoin Gary. The suspect charged with obstruction of justice was identified as Genesis Evans, according to the sheriff’s office.
It was not immediately clear if the suspects have hired attorneys or are awaiting a judge to appoint public defenders to represent them.
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