(OCALA) - Marion County Sheriff Billy Woods announced the arrests of two juveniles in connection with the triple homicide.
Robert Robinson, 17, and a 12-year-old boy, are charged with first-degree murder.
A third suspect, 16-year-old Tahj Brewton, is at large as of Friday.
"There are individuals out there viewing…who want to blame the one thing that has no ability or the capacity to commit the crime itself, and that's the gun," MCSO Sheriff Billy Woods said during a press conference. "These individuals committed the crime."
The three suspects "fled the scene but left a lot of evidence in their wake," Woods said.
The suspects are part of a larger group who have been involved in burglaries and robberies, according to the sheriff. The suspects and the victims were together, and committed robberies, when the three suspects turned on the victims.
"We have nothing to say that it was any rivalry or anything to such that cause. However, each and every one of them was associated in some shape or form was associated in some way with a gang. … There is no honor among thieves, and at some point, these individuals turned on our three victims and murdered them," Woods said.
The sheriff added that he had to "stare into the eyes" of the suspects' mothers, who were "willing to give their sons everything," on Thursday evening before their arrests.
"The fact is: society fails them. We do not hold our juveniles accountable. We minimize their actions," he said.
The three deceased teenage friends — a 17-year-old male and two 16-year-old females identified as Layla Silvernail and Camille Quarles — were shot and left for dead in rural Marion county sometime between March 30 and April 1.
The triple homicide has left Marion County residents on edge, especially after officials announced the unrelated murder of an adult male last week.
The mystery began March 30, when MCSO deputies responded to the area of Forest Lakes Park on SE 183rd Avenue Road, where they located Silvernail, 16, with a gunshot wound.
Authorities transported the teenager to a hospital in critical condition, and she lost brain function until she was pronounced dead.
A day after finding Silvernail, MCSO deputies responded to SE 94th Street and SE 188th Court and located a deceased 17-year-old male with a gunshot wound.
The next morning, on April 1, the MCSO Major Crimes Unit, Forensic Unit and Underwater Recovery Team responded to the area of Malauka Loop and Malauka Loop Trace and found Layla’s vehicle partially submerged in a body of water.
The suspects were in Silvernail's vehicle with the victims prior to their deaths, according to the sheriff. Authorities believe all three victims were shot at the same time.
"She was there of her own free will," Woods said of Silvernail.
After obtaining a search warrant and searching her vehicle, authorities found 16-year-old Quarles dead from a gunshot wound in Silvernail's car. The arrested suspects confessed to shooting Quarles in the vehicle. They obtained guns from car thefts, Woods explained.
Woods previously said on The Bob Rose Show that he believed the suspects were part of a "wannabe" or "neighborhood" gang, and the victims likely knew them for a short time.
The attorney general's office is reviewing whether to try the three suspects as adults, Woods said.
The MCSO is asking anyone with information to contact Det.
Ryan Stith at 352-368-3542. Anonymous tipsters can contact Crime Stoppers of Marion County at 352-368-STOP (7867) and reference No. 23-22.
