Four suspects, including three teenagers, are facing murder charges in Albany, Georgia, after a mother tracked her 15-year-old son to an abandoned home and discovered him shot dead.
The body of Austin Payne, 15, was found inside a vacant residence on the 800 block of Cameo Lane on Nov. 1, according to the Albany Police Department. His mother had used cellphone location tracking to find him after he failed to come home on Halloween night.
Albany Police Chief Michael Persley said during a Nov. 2 news conference that Payne managed to contact his mother after being wounded.
“He did make a call to his mother that he had been shot,” Persley said.
Officers who responded to the scene found Payne dead from his injuries. Investigators subsequently arrested 22-year-old Detravion Parke, two 15-year-olds and a 16-year-old, police said. All four were charged with murder and booked into the Dougherty County Jail.
The investigation pieced together events through surveillance footage, cellphone records and witness statements, according to WALB. Witnesses told investigators that armed individuals had approached a group walking with Payne, demanded their belongings and opened fire.
Payne may have been singled out during an attempted robbery involving a handgun he had recently shown on social media, WALB reported.
The killing has devastated Payne’s family, who launched a GoFundMe campaign to cover funeral expenses. A relative organizing the fundraiser noted that Payne would have celebrated his 16th birthday on Nov. 12.
“Our family is trying to process this heartbreaking loss,” the relative wrote on the fundraising page.
The campaign also stated that Payne is survived by his mother and his 17-year-old sister.
The Albany Police Department continues to seek additional information about the shooting. Anyone with knowledge of the incident is asked to contact investigators at 229-431-2100.