A 12-year-old boy and a 17-year-old have been arrested in connection with the murders of three teenagers in Florida.
Christopher Atkins, 12, and Robert Robinson, 17, allegedly confessed to at least one of the shootings which have rocked the small town of Ocklawaha, and authorities have launched an urgent manhunt for a third suspect, Tahj Brewton, 16.
Layla Silvernail, 16, Camille Quarles, 16, and an unidentified 17-year-old victim were last week shot together in a car before being discovered over a span of three days within a 5-mile radius.
The victims and their suspected killers were allegedly behind a recent spate of robberies and burglaries to hit the small Florida community.
Marion County Sheriff Billy Woods told a press conference Friday that the motive for the killings was ‘robbery’, as he revealed that one of the perpetrators is still on the loose.
‘I will get him,’ Woods said, adding that the group were all associated with a gang ‘in some shape or another’.
Christopher Atkins, 12, and Robert Robinson, 17, remain in custody on charges related to the killings of three teenagers in Florida
A third perpetrator, Tahj Brewton, is being sought by cops in connection with the shootings
Detectives were able to determine that the three teenage victims were together prior to their murders in a vehicle owned by Silvernail, before they were dumped in different locations over a three-day period.
A witness reportedly heard a series of gunshots at the time, leading detectives to believe the teens were all murdered at the same time, the sheriff said.
16-year-old Silvernail was still alive when she was discovered last Thursday night shot in the head and left in a dumpster near Forest Lakes Park. She later died in hospital.
The grisly discovery was followed hours later when an unnamed 17-year-old victim was found less than a mile away on the side of a road. A third victim, 16-year-old Camille Quarles, was found Saturday inside Silvernail’s car, which was partially submerged in a pond.
Layla Silvernail, 16, was found shot in the head and left in a dumpster, but still alive. She later died in hospital, before police found two more teenage victims – one 17-year-old boy, and another 16-year-old girl
Camille Quarles, 16, was found Saturday inside Silvernail’s car, which was partially submerged in a pond
Marion County Sheriff Billy Woods told a press conference Friday that the killings were ‘gang-related’, and said that ‘in some shape or another, each were associated with a gang’.
The sheriff broke down several times as he detailed the tragic killings, and alluded to the group being together prior to the killings with the intention to commit a crime.
‘Do I have to spell it out for you? What do you think they were doing?’ he said. ‘They’re gangs because they commit crimes’.
Woods said that at some time during the episode, the suspects turned on the victims before shooting them all inside the car.
‘These three individuals turned on our victims and murdered them. They fled the scenes and left a lot of evidence in their wake,’ he added.
The sheriff hit out at societal problems after detailing the crimes, and said he had to ‘stare into the eyes’ of the suspected killers’ mothers who were ‘willing to give their sons everything’.
‘I am a father, and I cannot fathom what they were going through,’ he said. ‘These mothers and the mothers across this nation need all of your help because here’s what infuriates me.
‘The fact is, society fails them. We do not hold our juveniles accountable’.
Marion County Sheriff Billy Woods announced arrests had been made during a press conference Friday morning
The close proximity of the killings led to fears that a serial killer may be on the loose in Ocklawaha, Florida, however police were quick to rule out that theory.
An urgent investigation was launched following the grisly discoveries, with law enforcement describing the killings as an ‘isolated incident’.
The sheriff told Fox News Digital on Thursday that he was investigating multiple suspects in the case, adding that he believes the perpetrators knew the victims.
‘It’s multiple suspects. More than two,’ he said, maintaining that the suspects may be gang-related.
After Silvernail and Quarles were identified as the victims, the identity of the third victim has not been released because their family have enacted their right of Marsy’s Law, which allows crime victims or their families to request their names be withheld from public documents.
As rumors swirled while the killings captured headlines in the tiny Florida town, Woods called for calm during the investigation as he insisted that the idea there is a serial killer out there is ‘far from the truth.’
‘I know this is a very close community and many of you are very concerned,’ he said.
‘Someone out there knows something. We want you to have truthful information and not rumors.’
Silvernail was found, still alive, inside this dumpster in Marion, County Florida
This is the location where a schoolgirl found one of the 17-year-old victims while on her way to school
One of the unidentified victims was later revealed to have been wearing all black clothing with a black mask covering his face when he was found dead.
The 17-year-old boy was sprawled on the side of a dirt road where a female student says she stumbled over the horror on her way to catch a school bus early Friday morning.
‘I was walking with my brother and I found the guy… he was not breathing,’ the student, who would only give her name as Khatia, told DailyMail.com.
‘He was laying on his side and was wearing a black hoodie, black shirt, black pants and black shoes. He had the hoodie over his head and he had a black mask up over his face. I couldn’t see his face. You could only see his eyes.’
Layla Silvernail’s friends and family have paid heartbreaking tributes to the teen, who they say was ‘taken from us too soon and will be greatly missed’
Silvernail was described by her friends and relatives as a talented softball player
Tributes have poured in for Silvernail after she was named as the first victim in the case.
The 16-year-old was described by her friends and family as a talented softball player. Her family decided to donate her organs ‘so she can help others in the wake of this tragedy,’ the teen’s softball league wrote on the fundraising page.
‘She is the definition of a team player and an amazing athlete,’ they said.
‘She loved the game of softball, was a great pitcher and could play any position her team needed. She uplifted all of her teammates!
‘She has been taken from us too soon and will be greatly missed.’
