PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Authorities in Montgomery County arrested and charged a 17-year-old with murder, accused of shooting and killing two teens earlier this week.
Around 11:30 p.m. Monday in Pottstown, 17-year-old Skyler Fox and 18-year-old Brandon Bacote-Byer were found shot dead near Fox’s car.
Detectives searched Fox’s phone and discovered a conversation on Snapchat with 17-year-old Dominic Carboni, of Limerick Township. Over the course of about eight hours, they discussed meeting up so Carboni could buy a quarter-pound of marijuana from Fox, according to the criminal complaint.
Bacote-Byer accompanied Fox.
Their Snapchat conversation ended 11 minutes before the deadly shooting, investigators said. Fox and Carboni also talked on the phone minutes prior.
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Detectives matched surveillance footage to the truck Carboni was driving, as well as cellphone records that confirmed he was attending class at Montgomery County Community College at the times he mentioned in the Snapchat conversation.
Carboni deleted his Snapchat history with Fox shortly after he fled the scene, police said.
A witness told police that they looked out their window when they heard shots and saw Fox crawling away from his car with a backpack over one of his shoulders, but minutes later, Fox wasn’t moving and the backpack was gone.
In the criminal complaint, based on statements from witnesses, detectives believe the motive was robbery.
Bacote-Byer was shot twice in the head. Fox was shot several times in the back and chest.
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Carboni is charged with two counts of first-degree murder, robbery and related charges.
Another man is named in the complaint, believed to have been with Carboni at the time, but he is not charged at this point.
Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin Steele calls it a senseless killing, adding that his office is targeting people who sell guns to people who are prevented by law from purchasing firearms, including kids or convicted felons.