Armed teenage robbers opened fire at a victim behind a Family Dollar in Beaumont, Texas, last week, police said.
But the victim also had a gun and turned the tables — lethally.
‘I just think that it’s sad that our babies are just dying left and right, and nobody’s doing anything.’
Police said its investigation — helped by witness accounts and video surveillance — determined that Jayson January and Brenden Earnest, both 17, as well as two juveniles acted together in a plot to rob the victim near Avenue B and Harriot last Friday, KFDM-TV reported.
All four suspects attacked the robbery target and fired shots at him, police told the station.
However, the victim also was armed and returned fire at the suspects, KFDM reported.
One of the suspects — January — was hit by gunfire and died in a grassy field near the store, the station said.
KLVI-AM reported Monday that Earnest turned himself in and was charged with aggravated robbery — but the two juveniles, ages 15 and 16, were still at large.
Earnest was being held at the Jefferson County Correctional Facility on a $1 million bond for the aggravated robbery charge as well as a $10,000 bond for unlawfully carrying a weapon, jail officials told KMBT-TV.
By Wednesday, the two juveniles also turned themselves in, police told KBTV-TV, adding that there had been warrants out for them on aggravated assault charges.
Detectives are continuing to investigate and complete their findings so the case can be submitted to the Jefferson County District Attorney’s Office, KBTV said.
One woman reacting to the incident told KFDM during an on-camera interview that “I just think that it’s sad that our babies are just dying left and right, and nobody’s doing anything.” The woman asked, “What are they doing about these kids getting out of school and being in the streets during school times?” She also declared, “Something is not right here. Make it make sense.”
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Self-defense, Texas, Armed robbery, Beaumont, Fatal shooting, 2nd amend., Guns, Gun rights, Arrests, Teen robbers, Crime