S.C. Teen Allegedly Confessed on Facebook to Girl's Murder, But He Claims He Got Hacked
A South Carolina teen charged with murder in the death of an 11-year-old girl claims a confession posted to his Facebook page was the work of a hacker.
Police in Anderson announced charges against Stephen Braden Powell, 17, on Wednesday. He is being charged as an adult.
Powell faces one count of murder and four counts of attempted murder, and police allege he is one of two people who fired at least 35 bullets into an Anderson home back on June 23.
Multiple people were wounded in the shooting that claimed the life of Ja’Naiya Scott, police stated at a press conference on the arrest.
Investigators are still working to identify the second shooter.
Ja’Naiya was one of two 11-year-olds struck by gunfire that day. The other 11-year-old remains in critical condition.
An 18-year-old was also shot, according to police.
According to investigators, a confessional post appeared on Powell’s Facebook page Wednesday night.
“I killed a little girl,” reads the post, which was screen-grabbed before being deleted. It was accompanied by a picture of Ja’Naiya.
The post goes on to explain that someone “thought it was okay to rob me for what I had and I wanted to take what [that person] had. The reason I am saying this now is because I feel so guilty and can’t go on like this.”
The post ends with an apology and indicates the writer praying for Ja’naiya’s grieving family.
After the initial post was deleted, a second post followed: “Who ever playing on my page stop playing on my life I did not post that and I have nothing to do with any of that someone hacked my page.”
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Police have yet to comment on the posts.
Powell has yet to enter pleas to the charges against him. He is expected to appear before a judge next week.
It was unclear Thursday who his attorney is.
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