Six arrested on gang charges linked to 15-year-old's shooting death

(CBS/AP) RACELAND, La. -- Six teenagers were arrested Tuesday on a variety of charges stemming from what authorities say was gang-related activity that led to the shooting death of 15-year-old Jamonta Miles.

Sheriff Craig Webre said the teenagers in custody were all in the same sports utility vehicle as Miles when he was shot to death late Monday.

Detectives said the teenagers, including Miles, had gone to Raceland looking for someone who had been arguing on Facebook with some of the group. The group couldn't find the person they were looking for, so they began looking for random people to terrorize, police said. The group began arguing with a man who pulled a gun and fired at the SUV. Bullets struck Miles in the head and a 17-year-old boy in the elbow.

The shooter remains at large.

Authorities in Lafourche Parish are beefing up security at two high schools following the incident. Precautions are also being taken at Thibodaux High and Central Lafourche High in Raceland out of concern that there might be attempts at a retaliation or a copycat shooting, said Floyd Benoit, a spokesman for the schools.

Miles was an eighth-grader at West Thibodaux Middle School, and the other six were current or former students at Thibodaux High.

The arrested teens belong to a street gang, and all have had run-ins with the law, including two who are on supervised probation, Sheriff Webre said. Each was booked on charges of criminal street gangs and patterns of criminal gang activity, terrorizing, contributing to the delinquency of a juvenile and possession of alcoholic beverages of persons under 21.

Investigators are encouraging anyone who has been terrorized by the gang, including the shooter, to come forward.