Jaleeyah Tune, Goldsboro, North Carolina teen girl shot and killed by a group of boys (she didn’t even know) while walking home with group of friends.
North Carolina authorities have announced the arrest of three teen boys alleged to have shot and killed a 13-year-old girl days before Christmas while she walked home.
Jaleeyah Tune, a seventh grade school girl was shot and killed around 4:30 p.m. on Sunday, Dec. 21, in Goldsboro, while walking home with a group of other children.
At the time of the shooting, J’Sheeyah Tune, 14, the victim’s older sister who was part of the group walking home said they they were shot at by a group of boys from behind a bush.
Shot and killed by a group of boys who opened fire from behind a bush
‘I held her in her last moments,’ J’Sheeyah Tune told ABC 11. ‘She didn’t deserve this at all. People are very cruel. Now, I have to live on without my sister.’
According to the sibling, Jaleeyah didn’t even know the boys who shot her. Not immediately clear is how or why the group came to be targeted. And whether the girl was the victim of indiscriminate random gunfire.
The 13-year-old girl was pronounced dead at the scene, authorities said. Three teenage suspects — two 16-year-old boys and a 15-year-old boy — have since been arrested and charged with first-degree murder and felony conspiracy according to WGHP.
Authorities have not released the names of the suspects due to their ages. The teen suspects are being held in the Pitt Juvenile Detention Center in Greenville.
One of the three teens made a first appearance on Monday. The others are scheduled to follow this week.
Jaleeyah’s mom, Whitney Brown-Tune didn’t expect to spend the days before Christmas planning a funeral for her 13-year-old daughter. Overwhelmed with grief, she said there were gifts under the tree that her daughter never got to open.
‘I’m heartbroken. I’m devastated at the loss of my daughter and what she had to go through, feeling scared and alone,’ Brown-Tune told KBTX.
Gun violence the leading cause of deaths for teens and children in North Carolina
Notes a report from Spectrum News: ‘Guns are the leading cause of death for children and teens in North Carolina, says the executive director of North Carolinians Against Gun Violence, Becky Ceartas. She said Wayne County, where Goldsboro is located, has some of the highest rates of gun violence in the state.’
‘This is simply unacceptable. And behind every one of these numbers is a family, is a community whose lives will never be the same,’ Ceartas told the outlet. ‘We’ve undergone immense trauma, and especially with the holidays, you know, they will have an empty chair at their table because of gun violence.’
A GoFundMe campaign, set up to cover funeral expenses had as of Boxing Day, raised, $13,485 of a $14K target goal.
