Four teenage girls, who bragged on social media after fatally stabbing another girl in a Lake Charles Walmart store, have been arrested.
The 15-year-old died in hospital after the attack that was streamed live Saturday night. Her identity has not been released.
The incident occurred around 7:30 p.m. Saturday, the Calcasieu Parish Sheriff’s Office said in a statement on Facebook, that a fight took place between five teenage girls, ages 12 to 15, at a Walmart on Highway 14 in Lake Charles.
The girls had allegedly stolen knives from the store, which were used to stab the 15-year-old. She was taken to a local hospital, where she succumbed to her injuries. The fight possibly began at a movie theater before culminating in the stabbing at the Walmart, Chief Deputy Stitch Guillory said to news station KPLC.
The other four girls — two 13-year-olds, a 12-year-old, and a 14-year-old — were arrested and booked into the Juvenile Detention Center, the sheriff’s office said.
One of the girls was charged with second-degree murder and the other three were charged with principal to second-degree murder.
The sheriff said that the Facebook Live video of the killing helped detectives easily solve the case.
Sheriff’s spokeswoman Kayla Vincent would not comment about whether bystanders, one or more of the girls, or both sent items to social media.
“Because the videos contain juveniles we are not going comment on how the videos got on social media or who or how many girls were in the videos,” she said in an email Monday.
Calcasieu Parish Sheriff Tony Mancuso said in a press conference Sunday that this is the third instance of a homicide involving juveniles in the past six months, calling the uptick in crime among minors a “parenting issue.”
Police have not revealed a motive for the attack but say they believe the confrontation may have started at a nearby movie theater.
Sheriff Mancuso says the girls have shown no remorse. “It was very cold to see 12-, 13-, 14- and 15-year-olds acting this way,” he said. “We cannot let this plague and take over our community.” He noted this was the area’s third homicide in six months involving juveniles 11 to 16 years old.
Watch the video below for more details (Warning: Graphic Footage):
