Isiah Roberts, 19, has been arrested and charged in the killing of a 9-year-old that police believed stemmed from a social media feud, CBS Philly reports. Roberts faces murder, aggravated assault and other charges in the fatal shooting of Sequoya Bacon-Jones. The Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office has requested for the 19-year-old await trial in jail.
According to CBS Philly, Bacon-Jones was hit by a stray bullet when she was playing with her brother outside of her family’s Trenton, New Jersey, apartment. Police say there were several witnesses of the shooting.
“He shot off two rounds first, everybody scattered, and then he shot off another four rounds and my daughter got hit,” the 9-year-old’s mother, Shea Bacon-Jones, told CBS Philly. “I run up and my baby is laying on the ground covered in blood. She’s not crying at all, she’s just like moaning and she’s reaching for me and I’m like I can’t believe what I’m looking at. It’s not really happening, but it’s really happening.”
Sequoya was quickly taken to Capital Health Regional Medical Center, then to Robert Wood Johnson New Brunswick Hospital, 6 ABC reports. Authorities say the 9-year-old later succumbed to her injuries.
Police say the stray bullet came from a fight that broke out in a large group nearby, CBS Philly reports. Officials believe the fight was a result of a social media feud. No other injuries were sustained in the shooting.
“It was a dispute over how one of the women was raising her children. They were called out on Facebook,” Mercer County Prosecutor Angelo Onofri said, according to CBS Philly.
It’s a devastating loss for Bacon-Jones’ family, who says “she was a bright 9-year-old little girl.”
“She came into this world fighting, she left this world fighting, but she loved to live. She loved to make people laugh, she loved to make them smile,” Shea said, NBC 10 Philadelphia reports. “And now all I have are our memories. I can’t make anymore. She can’t do anymore, and that’s not fair,” her mother said.