Bail set at $3 million for the alleged murderers of Kierra’onna Rice, 14, who had to fight a Facebook bully
BAIL has been set at $3 million for the alleged teenage murderers of a 14-year-old girl, who had to physically fight a Facebook bully.
IT is a $3 million price to pay for the alleged murderers of a 14-year-old girl who had to physically fight a Facebook bully that was going to be filmed and posted online.
That is the sum of the bail set for 17-year-old Antonio King and Jason Wade, 19 — $1.5 million each — who have been charged with the murder of Kierra’onna Rice.
She went to confront her Facebook bully in a park in the city of Birmingham in Alabama.
GIRL, 14, SHOT DEAD IN FIGHT AFTER FACEBOOK FEUD
As the teenager boys are being held at Jefferson County jail, Rice’s family have spoken about the bullying that the girl known as ‘Keke’ had suffered from girls on Facebook.
“It was supposed to be a group fight,’’ 14-year-old Arreonia Westry, a close friend of Keke’s who was there to watch, told al.com.
Keke, described by her friends as the peacemaker in their tight-knight group, at times wanted to go through with it, and at other times she was afraid.
“We told her she didn’t have to come if she didn’t want to,’’ said Keke’s cousin, 15-year-old Destiny Senior. “But they had said if she didn’t come out there, they were coming to her house.”
“I knew something was going to happen,’’ Destiny said. “I got butterflies before. I just knew.”
Keke’s mother Alicia said she knew about the bullying and did not want her daughter to go to the planned fight.
”She text me and said, ‘Momma, I’m sorry. But I got to fight this girl one more time.’ That’s what she told me. She didn’t tell me where she was when she hung up. And text me and said, ‘I got to fight her one more time, not one more time but I have to fight her and go and get it over with,’” Alicia told MSNews Now.
The fight between the girls soon went out of control.
“It didn’t go as planned,’’ said Destiny. First someone pulled out and fired a Taser stun gun. Then there was gunfire and chaos ensued.
Keke was one of three people shot. The identities of the other two have not been released, but they are expected to survive.
“Everybody took off running,’’ said Arreonia. “I turned around because I knew Keke was behind me, and she was on the ground.”
Friends and police said after being shot, Keke was run over by a car in the panic that followed the shooting. She died in at Princeton Baptist Medical Centre less than 30 minutes later.
“It’s challenging for these families because here’s a group of kids who have decided that they’re going to fight and put it on social media where everybody can see it,” said Birmingham police Chief AC Roper.
“Our hearts are broken because this young lady has lost her life and we’ve got to do better as a society.”
A GoFundMe account has been set up to pay for Keke’s funeral. At publication, more than $9000 of the $10,000 target had been raised.