Two teenagers in South Carolina are facing criminal charges for allegedly conspiring to kill another teen “over a female” — with one of the youths gunning down a 16-year-old boy after being dropped off by the other, according to police.
Devan Raper, 19, and Gianna Kistenmacher, 17, are accused of carrying out the alleged shooting attack on June 23 in Johnsonville, with Raper allegedly pumping bullets into local resident and fellow teen Trey Wright that night before abandoning him on First Neck Road, according to the Florence County Sheriff’s Office.
Deputies discovered Wright “laying in the roadway” with multiple gunshot wounds around 11:30 p.m., according to a press release from the sheriff’s office. He was pronounced dead at a nearby hospital.
Kistenmacher allegedly drove Raper to meet Wright “knowing that Raper was armed and that there would be a confrontation for violence likely to lead to death based on statements made in her presence,” according to FCSO officials. She has been charged with accessory before the fact, whereas Raper is charged with murder and possession of a weapon while committing a violent crime.
“This was an altercation between two people,” Sheriff TJ Joye told the local CBS affiliate WBTW. “They had issues with each other and it was over a female,” Joye told the newspaper. “The sad thing is, you have a 16-year-old who died. You have a 19-year-old who will be in jail for the rest of his life. “Over what?”
Police say Raper arrived last Tuesday to meet Wright and had a “verbal altercation” with him before the shooting. It’s unclear what was going on with the other girl that led Raper to allegedly murder Wright.
Raper is being held in the Florence County Detention Center without bond while awaiting his first appearance in General Sessions Court on August 19. Kistenmacher is being held in the same facility while she awaits a bond hearing.
Wright, a high school student in Florence School District 5, was described as a “kind soul who touched so many lives,” according to a GoFundMe page.
Wright’s friend, Ethan Kirby, told WBTW that Wright and Raper had previously hung out and were allegedly friends.
“It’s an unreal act that we never thought could happen to Trey,” Kirby told me. “Honestly, I’m in disbelief at what’s happened right now.”
