Florida police arrested a third juvenile suspect wanted in connection with the gruesome murders of three teenagers.
The Marion County Sheriff’s Office said Tahj Brewton, 16, was arrested on Saturday evening, just south of Groveland, Florida. The arrest was made by the U.S. Marshals and the Lake County Sheriff’s Office.
The Marion County Sheriff’s Office announced Brewton’s arrest in a Facebook post on Sunday.
Brewton was arrested on outstanding warrants for carjacking with a firearm, aggravated assault, grand theft of a motor vehicle, attempting to elude law enforcement officials, and tampering with an electronic monitoring device.
A $10,000 reward was offered for tips leading to his arrest. The reward was offered by the U.S. Marshals Service and the Florida Sheriff’s Association Criminal Apprehension Assistance Program.
Brewton’s arrest came a day after Marion County Sheriff Billy Woods announced the arrests of 12-year-old Christopher Atkins (left) and Robert Robinson, 17.
A sheriff’s deputy recorded the two handcuffed boys being perp walked to a vehicle outside the sheriff’s office on Friday. Robinson looked nervous and asked a sheriff’s deputy, “Where is this (video) going to?”
The deputy responded: “The news.”
All three juveniles are suspects in the brutal murders of Layla Silvernail, 16, Camille Quarles, 16, and an unidentified 17-year-old male.
The third victim’s name was not released because his family invoked Marsy’s Law, which allows crime victims or their families to withhold their names from public documents.
Atkins and Robinson explain in detail how the six teens carried out their crimes, including robbing a trap house and hotwiring a stolen car.
Police said the three victims knew the suspects for a short while before they were killed for unknown reasons. The victims and suspects were part of a larger gang responsible for burglaries and robberies in the Ocklawaha, Florida area. Police said “additional charges are forthcoming.”
The victims were shot to death in a car then their bodies were dumped in different locations within a 5-mile radius over 48 hours, DailyMail.com reports.
On March 30, Layla was found by the side of a road in the Forest Lakes Park area. She was suffering from gunshot wounds and later died at a local hospital.
The next morning, shortly before 8 a.m., police found the body of a 17-year-old male on the side of a road. He was dead from a gunshot wound.
On Saturday, April 1st, Layla’s car was spotted partially submerged in a pond. Camille Quarles’s body was found in the trunk of the car.
Sheriff Woods said, based on interviews and evidence on Camille’s cellphone, she was in the car “of her own free will.”
Woods said the three suspects fled the area after the murders. “They fled but left a lot of evidence in their wake,” he said.
Atkins and Robinson are charged with first-degree murder and remain in a juvenile detention center without bond. It is not clear if they will be charged in the juvenile justice system or as adults.
Watch the video below.
