Three teenagers were charged with murder after their plot to egg a home as part of an "ongoing lover's quarrel" in Georgia escalated to gunfire, police said.
Deputies arrived on a call of a "man down" in the road last week to discover a man had been shot and killed, the Spalding County Sheriff's Office said in a statement Saturday. The victim was identified as Johnathan Gilbert.
The three teenagers — Sydney Maughon, 18; Jeremy Munson, 19; and McKenzie Davenport, 19 — were vandalizing Gilbert's home in Griffin when he came out to confront them, Sheriff Darrell Dix alleged in the statement.
"The suspects ran back to the car, and as Gilbert approached them, Sydney Maughon, a backseat passenger in the car, produced a firearm and shot him multiple times," Dix said. "The suspects then drove away leaving Gilbert dead in the middle of Dobbins Mill Road."
Dix did not offer details about a motive, saying only that there appeared to be an "ongoing lovers quarrel."
Detectives traced a cellphone number of one of the suspects to a neighboring county, where police found a car authorities believe was used in the incident. A gun was found in the vehicle.
All three teens are charged with malice murder, battery and criminal trespassing. Maughon and Munson are also charged with murder, aggravated assault and possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime.
While police said Maughon was the one believed to have pulled the trigger, Dix alleged that all three of the suspects are culpable because they went to the victim's home with the intent to commit a crime.
"They went to egg a house, the victim confronted them while they were doing it, he lost his life, and they drove off and left his body in the middle of the road," Dix said. "Together they bought that ticket; now together they can ride that ride.”
Court records for the teenagers were unavailable Sunday, and it is unclear whether they have attorneys. County inmate records show they are in pretrial detention.