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Nine teenagers have been arrested in the fatal shooting of 16-year-old Trey Dean Wright of Johnsonville, South Carolina, which occurred on June 24 after authorities say the young men argued over a girl. Officials claim one of the accused shot Wright, and others allegedly video-recorded some of the events leading up to the killing, which now has the 16-year-old’s family struggling to cope with the loss.

Florence County sheriff’s deputies found Wright dead along First Neck Road on June 24 after being shot multiple times. The area where he was discovered is a rural part of First Neck Road about 45 miles west of Myrtle Beach, and on June 25, authorities arrested 19-year-old Devan Scott Raper of Conway, who they say fired the fatal shot after arguing with Wright.

Raper was not acting alone, the authorities say, and over the next several weeks, investigators made several new arrests in the shooting death of Wright. According to officials, several of the teens lured Wright to the area where Raper, who was armed and had already threatened Wright, was waiting.

“I’m still in shock about all of this,” said Wright’s mother, Ashley Lindse, in an interview with Fox News Digital. “All this court hearing and bond court and stuff is driving me crazy. I don’t even have time to sit down and think half the time, on top of losing my precious baby.”

Wright’s girlfriend, 17-year-old Gianna Kistenmacher of Myrtle Beach, was one of the teenagers arrested, and authorities say she played an important role in instigating the events of June 24. She has been charged with being an accessory before the fact to murder and is accused of bringing Raper to the scene knowing that he was armed and that a shooting was possible.

South Carolina Law Allows Teens to be Charged as Adults

Florence County Sheriff’s Office Major Michael Nunn told WBTW-TV that the five other teens arrested were complicit in helping Raper lead up to the murder. “They were complicit in bringing the armed codefendant, Raper, to the incident location and knowing that there would be a confrontation,” said Nunn. “They knew that Raper had presented a firearm to the victim and made threats to shoot him, according to the arrest warrants.”

The law in South Carolina gives prosecutors the discretion to charge teenagers as adults for serious offenses, including murder, and officials say that five of the nine teens were arrested under that statute. “The hand of one being the hand of all is part of South Carolina law as well, so that’s the basis of the charge for each of those individuals,” said Nunn.

Three more teens from the Myrtle Beach area were charged in connection with Wright’s death, in addition to Raper. They have been identified as 18-year-olds Hunter Kendall and Corrine Belviso and 17-year-old Sydney Kearns, and the involvement of all three was significant enough for them to be charged with murder.

Sheriff T.J. Joye described the shooting as being based on personal differences over a girl. “They had issues with each other, and it was over a female,” he told reporters. “The sad thing is, you’ve got a 16-year-old who lost his life. You’ve got a 19-year-old who is going to be in jail the rest of his life. Over what?”

Raper is facing murder and possession of a weapon with intent to commit a violent crime. He has not been able to post a bond. Kendall has a murder charge pending and is also being held without bond. Belviso and Kearns both posted $20,000 surety bonds last week and have since been released.

The Florence County Sheriff’s Office declined to comment beyond what was included in the arrest warrants, citing the pending investigation. Prosecutors in the case were also not available for comment. Wright’s family, however, has had no shortage of public remarks to express their grief and frustration with how long the process has taken.

Wright’s mother says that she struggles to find time to think about her son outside of the hearing dates that the case has set before bond court. For her, the shooting was all the more painful because some of those charged with his death were her son’s girlfriend and several of his closest peers. The shooting has also raised community concern over how quickly teenage arguments can turn deadly, the influence of peer pressure, and how access to firearms complicates that further.

The fight between two young people has now led to nine more being charged in connection with a shooting death, two families torn apart, and a small community in South Carolina still trying to wrap their head around how an argument over a girl could end in murder.