Six migrants charged in SC mom's murder detailed crime in eerie messages: ‘Just the beginning'
Six illegal immigrants, ages 13 through 21, charged in connection with a South Carolina mother's "random" murder earlier this month allegedly texted each other about the crime afterward.
Lancaster County Sheriff's Office deputies located Larisha Sharell Thompson, 40, deceased with a gunshot wound behind the wheel of her vehicle on Riverside Road in Lancaster, located about an hour south of Charlotte, North Carolina, on May 2.
On May 12, authorities announced the arrests of Asael Aminadas Torres-Chirinos, 21; Jarby Ardon Ramos-Odari, 18; Jeyson Sobied Pineda-Salgado, 17; and three juveniles, ages 13, 14 and 15, in connection with Thompson's death and a separate burglary that occurred on April 30.
Sixth Circuit Deputy Solicitor Melissa McGinnis said all six suspects charged admitted to robbing a car during a May 14 hearing, as The Rock Hill Herald first reported.
In text messages allegedly exchanged between the suspects after Thompson's murder, they apparently used the phrases "mission fail" and "this is just the beginning," Lancaster County Sheriff's Office Deputy Justin Weiland testified on May 14, as the Herald reported.
"The text messages that have been cited in open court show a complete lack of remorse by the defendants," former South Carolina Attorney General Charlie Condon told Fox News Digital. "So, the evidence indicates… clearly, a premeditated plan. Then, after the murder is accomplished, there's just no remorse whatsoever or any regret expressed by any of them for murdering this innocent lady."
Condon added that while the defendants in this case are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law, it is "really hard to understand how a human could do that to another human."
"[T]he fact that we've allowed illegal immigrants into this state to commit such crimes shouldn't have happened."
"But… it's happened here in South Carolina, and the fact that we've allowed illegal immigrants into this state to commit such crimes shouldn't have happened. It has happened," he said. "They're here. But I'm hoping the family…can take some comfort in the fact that the local authorities are prosecuting this case so vigorously so that there might be some measure of justice coming their way."
The Lancaster County Sheriff's Department said Torres-Chirinos allegedly pulled the trigger.
Defense attorneys for the juvenile defendants, Matthew Niemiec and Mark Grier, said the suspects were coerced into the alleged crime. Prosecutors described Torres-Chirinos as the "ringleader" of the group, according to The Herald. Fox News Digital has reached out to Niemiec and Grier, as well as attorneys for the three adult defendants, including public defender John Freeman and defense attorneys Geoffrey Dunn and Edgar Michael Pinilla.
The Department of Homeland Security has placed detainers on all six individuals charged, Lancaster Sheriff Barry Faile said during a news conference earlier this month, adding that the community is a "much safer place today because these six individuals are off the streets."
Faile alleged that the suspects pulled up alongside Thompson and fatally shot her in what authorities described as a "random robbery attempt." Authorities believe all six suspects were in the same vehicle with Torres-Chirinos, who was driving and allegedly fired the fatal shot at Thompson. They are accused of attempting to enter her vehicle and then fleeing the scene upon realizing that it was locked.
On April 30, deputies were dispatched to the Van Wyck Mart at 644 Rock Hill Highway before 8 a.m. to investigate a burglary. The store owner told deputies that surveillance video footage showed several young men trying to get into the store around 10:30 p.m. on April 29. When they couldn't get inside, they allegedly broke open a door on the northwest corner of the building, which opened up to a bathroom that had access to the inside of the store.
The suspects are also accused of firing a handgun at a security camera and the bathroom door. Detectives collected ballistics evidence at the scene.
The location of the store the suspects allegedly broke into and the location of Thompson's murder are a seven-minute drive apart. Detectives determined that ballistic evidence recovered from the scene of the murder came from the same 9 mm handgun as those at the scene of the burglary days before.
Through digital surveillance, investigators also identified Torres-Chirinos, the 21-year-old suspect, at the scene of both crimes. They questioned him at the sheriff's office on May 8, and by the end of that day, they had identified, located and detained the five additional suspects.
"This mother of two was let down by the system."
"These illegal immigrants shouldn't have been here to begin with. And had that not occurred, she would be living her life right now today," Condon said. "But they were allowed into this country. They weren't stopped. And so the depravity of the crime just shocks the conscience."
WATCH: SC AUTHORITIES ANNOUNCE ARRESTS OF 6 ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS IN THOMPSON'S MURDER
The three adult suspects are charged with murder, attempted armed robbery and second-degree burglary. Authorities believe Torres-Chirinos fired the handgun in both incidents, and he is charged with two counts of firearms possession during the commission of a crime and one count of firearms possession by an unlawful alien. A judge denied bond for all three men.
Condon suspects prosecutors may pursue the death penalty against Torres-Chirinos.
"I would suspect – again, without knowing all the ins and outs of this case – that the state will seek to have the younger ones being cooperating defendants in exchange for lesser sentences," he said.
The three juvenile suspects are also charged with murder, attempted armed robbery and second-degree burglary.
All six suspects are subject to removal from the United States under federal immigration law based on their immigration status, the sheriff's office said.
"The Department of Homeland Security has placed detainers on these six," Faile said. "That doesn't mean the federal government will scoop them up and send them out of the country before their cases are heard in court. It simply means if, for any reason, any one or more of them becomes eligible for release before their charges are resolved in court, Homeland Security will take custody of them, and they will not be back out on the street. Our intention is that all six remain detained until they face the full weight of our judicial system."
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