Teen's Girlfriend Among 9 Arrested After He Was Lured to Remote Area and Gunned Down -- All on Video: Police

News By TooFab Staff |
Florence County Sheriff's Office/GoFundMe

Police allege that the victim's girlfriend was among the teens who brought his armed killer to a remote meetup ... where a verbal altercation over her turned into deadly violence.

In the weeks since the shooting death of a 16-year-old in South Carolina on June 24 for what police have come to believe was a feud "over a girl," nine teens have been arrested, with many of them minors. Among them is the victim's girlfriend, authorities believe, who they allege helped set him up for death.

The Florence County Sheriff's Office first became aware of this shocking crime on the evening of June 24 at approximately 11:30 p.m. when they received an emergency call for a possible shooting on a remote road near Johnsonville, SC, approximately 45 miles west of Myrtle Beach.

Upon arrival, per a June 26 press release from the department, they found the victim lying in the road with multiple gunshot wounds. A relative who spoke with ABC affiliate WPDE said he was shot twice in the lower chest. The victim was later identified as Trey Wright (above right) of Johnsonville. He was quickly transported to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead.

One day after the shooting, 19-year-old Devin Raper (above left) of Conway, SC was taken into custody and charged with Murder and Possession of a Weapon During the Commission of a Violent Crime. Investigators believe that Raper had shot Dean after a verbal altercation "over a girl."

But that would only prove to be the beginning of the story, and the first of many arrests.

Just a few days later, on June 30, a 17-year-old girl from Myrtle Beach, SC was arrested and charged with Accessory Before the Fact of a Felony, per a press release that same day from FCSO. That charge was later upgraded to murder, according to Mike Nunn, a spokesman for the department, who spoke with The Post and Courier.

The teen -- who is described by multiple media outlets including CBS affiliate WBTW as Wright's girlfriend -- is accused of bringing Raper to the location of the shooting, with investigators alleging that she knew there would be "a confrontation for violence likely to lead to death based on statements made in her presence."

Sheriff T.J. Joye, told NBC affiliate WMBF that this 17-year-old girl, who was Wright's girlfriend and who allegedly brought Raper to the scene of the crime, is also the aforementioned "girl" that the verbal altercation between Wright and Raper was about.

"They had issues with each other, and it was over a female," Joye told the media. "The sad thing is, you got a 16-year-old that lost his life. You’ve got a 19-year-old who is going to be in jail the rest of his life. Over what?"

Through the course of the investigation, three more individuals were also arrested on August 3 and accused of driving Raper to the shooting location with awareness of what was "likely" to happen there, per police. Those include another 17-year-old girl, as well as two older teens, Hunter Kendall, 18, and Corrinne Belviso, 18.

"They knew that Raper had presented a firearm to the victim and made threats to shoot him," said Nunn, per Law&Crime, alleging that all of the teens arrested were complicit in coordinating the deadly meetup.

In total, police reported that they have now arrested nine individuals in relation to Wright's shooting death. Joye said that seven of the individuals are adults, while two are minors. In South Carolina, state law states that any 17-year-old charged with a Class A, B, C or D felony is treated like an adult.

Nunn explained why all of the suspects are being charged with murder, despite the belief there was only one alleged shooter. "The decision was made, again with investigators, in consultation with the solicitor's office to charge each of them with murder," he told WBTW, "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."

The additional arrests came after police discovered that at least one of the teens had recorded the altercation. "A lot of times the, people involved record the event, so that takes a lot of the guesswork out of it," said Nunn. "Well, it's kind of hard to deny what we see with our, with our eyes, and what's posted on social media, audio, video, those types of things," he added.

Of the arrested suspects, he said, "They were complicit in bringing the armed codefendant, Raper, to the incident location and knowing that there would be a confrontation. They knew that Raper had presented a firearm to the victim and made threats to shoot him, according to the arrest warrants."

Speaking with WBTW, Wright's mother, Ashley Lindsey, said, "My baby never deserved not one thing that happened to him, period. He was one in a million. He was good for people's souls. His happiness was so contagious. He always spread joy and he was one of the most kind-hearted kids you'd ever meet."

According to online jail records reviewed by People, Raper and Kendall remain held without bond at the Florence County Detention Center. The teen believed to be Wright's girlfriend was released on a $25,000 bond and is in home confinement. Belviso and the second 17-year-old posted $20,000 bonds and have been released pending trial.