MARION COUNTY, Fla. — Authorities have arrested two juveniles and are searching for a third after finding three teens shot to death last week in Marion County, Sheriff Billy Woods said.
Deputies believe both the victims and the suspects were involved in burglaries and robberies and that “each and every one of them, in some shape or form, is associated with a gang,” the sheriff said.
“Basically, (in) simple terms, there is no honor among thieves,” Woods said at a news conference Friday. “At some point, these three individuals turned on our three victims and murdered them.”
The sheriff said two of the suspects — a 12-year-old a 17-year-old boy — confessed to shooting one of the victims. They left behind a trail of evidence, Woods said, although he did not elaborate on the evidence found as the search for the third suspect, a 16-year-old boy, continues.
Deputies found Layla Silvernail, 16, shot near the rural community of Forest Lakes Park on March 30. Authorities said she later died of her injuries.
The next morning, deputies found a 17-year-old boy dead of an apparent gunshot wound beside a road about a half mile from the area where Silvernail was found. On Saturday, authorities found Silvernail’s car partially submerged in a pond about 9 miles from where she was injured. In the trunk of the car, deputies found a 16-year-old girl who appeared to have died of a gunshot wound.
Woods said the victims and the three suspects were all in the car together at one point. He declined to elaborate on when the victims were killed, although he said the motive was robbery.
Prosecutors are reviewing the case to determine whether to charge the suspects as adults.
Marion County Sheriff Billy Woods said one of the suspects is 12 years old.
