Court hearing details evidence against suspects in ‘innocent’ SC woman’s killing
Three teenagers plotted with three men charged as adults to shoot an innocent South Carolina woman on May 2 in a robbery, a prosecutor alleged in court Tuesday.
Lawyers for two of them said they were “coerced” and “threatened” by a 21-year-old shooter who was the ringleader of the crime spree, and raised questions about the involvement of the teens during the court hearing.
The plan included robbing someone in a car and dumping it to hide fingerprints, police and prosecutors said in juvenile court Tuesday.
Prosecutors want to try the three — ages 13, 14, and 15 — on murder charges as adults along with three adult co-defendants in the six-person crew who shot “innocent victim” Larisha Sharell Thompson, 40, on a rural Lancaster County road, 6th Circuit Deputy Solicitor Melissa McGinnis said in court.
Tuesday’s hearing in family court in Lancaster was to determine whether the three juveniles would remain jailed. Judge Coreen Khoury determined they should be.
“All admit they went out to rob a car,” McInnes said in court.
Authorities allege the group of six plotted a store burglary April 30 and that two of the teens were part of a text group chat among the oldest five plotting the robbery of Thompson along a dark rural road. The six wore masks and were “excited” and “giddy” when caught on a store surveillance camera nearby, minutes after the May 2 killing, Lancaster County Sheriff’s Office deputy Justin Weiland testified.
Prosecutors want to try the suspects before federal officials deport the six suspects, who authorities said are all undocumented immigrants from Honduras.
Federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement has told South Carolina prosecutors if the defendants are released from jail before trial, deportation hearings will begin in as little as 48 hours, McGinnis said.
All six, who live in Lancaster County, face charges of murder, burglary, and attempted armed robbery. The adults remain in the county jail without bail.
The Herald is not naming the three juveniles because of their ages.
Crimes April 30 and May 2
Weiland testified deputies used cell phone tower data to put the phones of five of the six defendants at the scene where Thompson was shot. Her car was riddled with bullets.
Her family found her dead in the car after she went missing on her way to a birthday party in Rock Hill.
Statements to police, cell data, and text messages show the same six were part of a burglary of a store nearby on April 30, Weiland testified.
The bullets from both crimes matched a gun seized by deputies as part of the investigation. The group hatched a scheme to rob a car along a rural road, Weiland testified. The victim, Thompson, happened to be driving on that road when they surrounded her car and she was shot to death, he said.
“There was clear planning and organization in order to get ready to do both of these crimes,” Weiland said in court.
The 13-year-old is accused of being the getaway driver after the earlier April 30 burglary, police said.
Additionally, the text message chain after killing showed five of the group continuing to talk about the killing and saying not to talk about it if questioned, Weiland testified. They used terms such as “mission fail” and “this is just the beginning.”
The victim: A mother of two
Larisha Thompson’s family packed one side of the courtroom. Some sobbed as the facts of the case were talked about.
Debra Thompson, Larisha Thompson’s mother, spoke about how her daughter was a devoted mother to two children. Larisha was callously surrounded and killed, her mother said.
“My daughter was going to celebrate, and her life was taken for no reason,” Debra Thompson said. “She lost her life, for nothing.”
She said the family is grieving and wants the suspects to stay in custody.
“These parents can see their kids but I have to go to the cemetery to see my child,” she said.
The accused: 3 adults, 3 teens
Asael Aminadas Torres-Chirinos, 21, of Lancaster, is believed to be the shooter who killed Thompson, Weiland testified. A gun that matches ballistic evidence from both the killing and the burglary days earlier was found at his home during a search, according to deputies.
He also faces weapons charges that include possession of a firearm by an unlawful alien.
Torres-Chirinos allegedly wrote text messages bragging about the killing afterward that included “taking that head,” police said.
Jarby Ardon Ramos-Odari, 18, and Jeyson Sobied Pineda-Salgado, 17, are the other two charged as adults, officials said.
Defense: Accused shooter was ringleader in charge who coerced boys
Defense lawyers Matthew Niemiec and Mark Grier said they believe the juvenile teens were coerced by Torres-Chirinos, whom prosecutors acknowledged was the “ringleader.”
Niemiec in court asked police why they didn’t ask the younger suspects if they felt danger from Torres-Chirinos, who had a gun and allegedly had just murdered a total stranger in a brazen robbery.
“No one expressed fear of a 21-year-old who had just shot somebody?” Niemiec asked Weiland, the deputy.
Niemiec said his client, the 14-year-old, did what adults told him to do.
“They ensnared him in this situation,” Niemiec said of the adult suspects. “This is a horrible crime, you have to acknowledge that ... But his involvement is minimal.”
Grier, whose client is age 15, said the five others all implicate Torres-Chirinos — the 21-year-old — as the leader and shooter.
Additionally, Amanda Bruton, a lawyer for the youngest suspect, who is 13 years old and allegedly drove the getaway car after the April 30 burglary, said police had no evidence her client had a cellphone or was part of the text plot chats.
