Four men have been arrested in Florida in connection with the fatal shooting of a seven-year-old boy, authorities have announced.
Keith Fields, 18, Dannel Larkins, 20, Keith Johnson, 21, and 24-year-old Zharod Sykes are facing various murder charges over the death of Breon Allen Jr. on January 24.
Another man, 21-year-old Lafayette Mango, was also injured in the shooting.
Fields, Larkins, and Sykes are all documented gang members, and Johnson is a documented gang associate, according to the Jacksonville County Sheriff’s office. They face charges of second-degree murder, conspiracy to commit murder, and attempted first-degree murder.
At a press conference on Wednesday, Jacksonville Sheriff T.K. Waters said that Allen’s death was “a culmination of escalating violence between two rival street gangs or street groups.”
"It was a targeted, planned act...one of the murderers clearly saw Breon walking innocently with the intended target, Lafayette Mango,” he said, adding that Mango was also a known gang associate.
The shooting happened just after 5 p.m. on January 24, in Jacksonville’s westside. Police said previously that multiple shooters ambushed Allen and Mango, firing gunshots and killing the child.
The suspects had been taken into custody in January following the incident, but the charges had not been filed until now.
The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office said online that the four arrests were only the start of the process of getting justice for Allen’s family and that more arrests would follow. “There are other individuals who planned and participated in this heinous act,” the force said.
“Our investigators are working every hour to build a strong case against them. We will arrest them, and they will face the consequences of their actions.”
"We know who they are and our investigators are building strong evidentiary cases against those perpetrators," Waters added on Wednesday. "They will be arrested. They will face the justice system."
Waters said the youngster would be remembered as a “sweet young man, who had a very, very, very bright future.” “That's the best way that I can put it, I don't know if there's any way to really express the impact of such a loss,” he said.
Casheena Love, Allen’s mother, described losing her son as a "nightmare." “I have never experienced nothing like this in my life and I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy," Love told First Coast News in January. “I never, never thought I'd be burying one of my babies."
In a statement shared with the outlet on Thursday, Jacksonville City Council member Tyrona Clark-Murray, said: "Words can not express the relief accompanied with knowing the assailants who committed the heinous act of taking Breon's life are incarcerated.
“Unfortunately, the relief is partnered with sadness that four African-American young men's lives are ruined by senseless violence."
The investigation into the case remains ongoing, according to the Sheriff’s Office.
