Cops: Tenn. teen murder suspect, friends arrested in S.C.
NEWBERRY COUNTY, S.C. - The manhunt has ended after police in South Carolina arrested a teenage murder suspect from Tennessee and three of his friends Thursday, reports CBS affiliate WLTX.
Sheriff Lee Foster said that four teenagers - including a 16-year-old who allegedly shot and killed his 36-year-old father in Greeneville, Tenn. on Wednesday night - were in custody following a 12-hour search in a wooded area off of a highway in South Carolina. Crimesider is not releasing the names of the teens due to their ages.
"The one suspect it appears right now might have done the shooting and not sure of the participation of the other three," Green County, Tenn. Sheriff Steve Burns said on Thursday. "They could have possibly been picked up after that, after the shooting, but certainly they were all together when they left Tennessee. There were weapons in the vehicle. They were all armed. You know, you have to treat them all the same."
Todd Lever, a Newberry County resident who saw the suspects on his farm, was able to point officers in the right direction, the station reports. He said he identified the teens from the description he had heard on the news.
"I started to run towards them... I even yelled, 'Hey, police, stop!' but they did run," Lever told WLTX. "The helicopter had just come over the farm, and I told the dispatcher and they turned the helicopter around, and he came right back and they were right on top of them."
The station reported Wednesday that the suspects' vehicle was spotted by a deputy in South Carolina and a chase ensued. Police spiked the tires of the teens' vehicle, prompting the suspects to flee on foot into the woods off of Highway 176 and state Highway 34 in Newberry.
The hunt involved over 100 law enforcement officers on the ground and in the air. However, Foster said it was citizens like Lever who helped break the case.
"A good citizen that reports the information and a good community-minded member that takes to heart what's going on - that's what we were trying to do from the beginning," Foster said.
"This is our place. This is where we live and we are going to do anything to protect it," Lever told WLTX. "We have great law enforcement and we work with them. I feel like I am a part of the community and it's my responsibility."
It is unclear when the teens will be taken back to Tennessee. Authorities said they would be transported to the Newberry County Sheriff's Office for the time being, according to the station.