Four men have now been slapped with heavier charges tied to the death of a 5-year-old girl from Omaha, Neb., who was hit by a stray bullet while eating breakfast in her home, the Associated Press reports.
Vincent Hicks, 20, was retained for suspected first-degree murder, criminal conspiracy and three felony weapons counts. He is believed to have fired the weapon that ultimately caused little Payton Benson’s death, but neither the bullet nor the gun it came from have been found yet.
Adonus Moses, 22, was taken in for suspicion of criminal conspiracy to commit second-degree murder. And the other two—18-year-old Jaylen Montgomery and 21-year-old Jacob Brown—were booked on suspicion of firing a weapon at an occupied house and using said weapon to commit a felony, according to AP. Montgomery could also face charges for possessing a gun while a felon.
"These arrests are the product of a community that has stepped forward to assist law enforcement, coupled with gang and homicide detectives that have worked tirelessly to solve this case," police Chief Todd Schmaderer said Wednesday in a written statement.
The four men had been arrested earlier for suspicion of theft in regards to a vehicle seen on surveillance footage near the area where shots were fired Jan. 15. According to the AP, police believe that one of the bullets from that incident, which occurred about a block from Benson’s home, killed her, even though she was not the target.
Benson’s mother, Tabatha Manning, has been forgiving of the suspected criminals and says that the new charges "will not bring [her] daughter back."
"There's no anger," she said. "There really isn't. I'm sad."
"There's no winners in this," Omaha City Councilman Ben Gray, who is also a relative—the uncle of Benson’s father—said. "The young men … they have four families that are going to be suffering as a result of this."
Read more at the Associated Press.