Four arrested over mass shooting at illegal gig that left 14-year-old girl dead
Ronjanae Smith was killed and 14 other people wounded in the shooting
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Four suspects have been arrested following the recent mass shooting in South Carolina, according to police.
The individuals has been named as Malachi Wigfall, 18, Tye Robinson, 18, Tyquan Denard Cooper, 21 and Manqual Laval Horlbeck, 20, and were all arrested on Thursday.
A 14 year old girl, Ronjanae Smith, died in hospital following the shooting on 22 May while 14 others were wounded. They have since been released from medical care. Police described the event they were all attending as an “unauthorised concert”.
The suspects have been indicted on charges of manslaughter, 12 charges of assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature, and one charge of possession of a firearm during the commission of a violent crime.
The shooting took place at the intersection of Piggly Wiggly Drive and West Jimtown Drive in North Charleston. Footage was recently released by authorities, and was shown by Live 5 News.
The North Charleston Police Department said the victims were caught in a shoot-out between two rival gangs who had spotted each other and opened fire.
They condemned the actions of those involved with Deputy chief Ken Hagge saying: “They were so worried about themselves. They don’t know how to conduct themselves out in public, that’s fine. They need to stay home, but we’re going to keep them home now.”
Deputy Chief Hagge said more people were due to be arrested connected to the shooting.
“I’m not going to say how many, but there’s going to be more held accountable for this,” he said to reporters.
He said police had spoken to hundreds of potential witnesses and logged cellphone data. They also addressed the “unorthodox” use of the manslaughter charge.
“Manslaughter is murder, folks. We can only use what we have in our tool box, and we can only charge what we can prove, and manslaughter is where we feel comfortable coming forward today on those charges,” Deputy Chief Hygge said.
Officers also said the neighbourhood was “sick and tired” of situations like this, and said many local people had come forward to help with the case.
“Out of the 14 people there were nine females, young ladies that were victimised. One lost her life. Ronjanae Smith, may she rest in peace,” said the squad’s chief, Reggie Burgess.
He also said if they had been notified about the concernt and had been able to be present at the event, they could “have been able to save lives.”
This year is expected to be a record year for mass shootings. According to reporting from The New York Times, there have been 236 since 26 May. More have since followed, including two in the Miami area over past weekend, where in total three people are believed to have died.