GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. — A deadly Gwinnett shopping plaza shooting happened because one of the teens accused of murder owed the victim money, a police report suggests.
Two teenagers were arrested in Walton County, Florida last week, accused in the death of Ryan Rodriguez Romero. The 16-year-old was shot and killed on Nov. 16 outside of La Mexicana Supermarket. A teenage girl was shot in the back, a police report revealed.
Witness reports outlined in Gwinnett County police documentation provide new details about the shooting at the shopping plaza along Beaver Ruin Road.
A girl who went inside the supermarket found her 17-year-old friend -- who survived the gunfire -- shot. She called her mom to say "her friend got shot and there was blood everywhere," a police report reads.
The shooting victim also called for help.
"It was a boy; it was a man," the victim tells dispatch in a 911 call, attempting to describe who may have shot her. "I need an ambulance right now," she continues through tears.
The victim had rushed inside the supermarket, where she called 911, according to the recorded call. She told police she was inside the backseat of a minivan with two other boys, a report states, and the group went to the plaza to collect money from a person named Wendy who owed the driver of the vehicle money.
The van approached a pick-up truck at the plaza. Wendy and another boy were inside the truck, according to witness statements recorded in the police report.
One of the boys inside the mini-van started to call the situation a setup, police records show. As the driver put the window down to try to collect money from a girl outside, shots were fired. The 17-year-old victim "went down and felt the impact of the bullet that entered her back," the report reads. The teen was taken to the hospital after speaking with the police.
A boy, who was not hurt, told investigators he was also in the mini-van said "he was scared for his life" and ran out of the vehicle when the shots were fired, according to the police report. He said the driver of the van, identified in the report as Junior, was shot.
Officers said the boy who was shot had driven away from the scene despite his injuries. Investigators searched the area and said they found the boy's vehicle along Vernon Street. The teen, identified as Rodriguez Romero, had died inside the vehicle, police said.
Gwinnett County Police Department homicide investigators announced Florida authorities arrested 16-year-old Jay Sanchez and 15-year-old Wendy Revas Orellana two days after the shooting. The two were found along County Road 283 and Highway 98 in Santa Rosa Beach, authorities said.
They are expected to be extradited to Gwinnett County where they both face charges of felony murder, malice murder and aggravated assault.