-and-Gabriel-Williams-(right).png?trim=0,29,0,27&width=1200&height=800&crop=1200:800 "Mom of 14-year-old girl lured into Florida woods, fatally shot and set on fire says she doesn’t hate teens accused of her murder – UK Times")
The heartbroken mother of the Florida teen who was fatally shot and set on fire says she doesn’t hate the boys accused in her daughter’s gruesome killing.
Danika Troy, 14, was killed after she was allegedly lured into the woods in Pace, part of the Pensacola Metropolitan area, on Tuesday by 14-year-old Kimahri Blevins and 16-year-old Gabriel Williams, the Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office said.
Authorities say the teens shot Troy “multiple times” before setting her remains on fire. Despite the horrific act, the slain teen’s mother says she doesn’t blame the boys charged in her daughter’s killing, but an outside “evil influence.”
“She loved them, and they brutally murdered her,” Ashley Troy told the New York Post.
“I don’t blame those boys. I blame evil influence. I don’t hate them, I hate what they did to my baby,” she said, later adding, “But I want nothing less than for them to be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.”
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The grief-stricken mother also took to Facebook on Friday, just three days after her daughter’s killing, to ask friends to share any photos they may have of her daughter, the Post reports.
“Please anyone with photos of my Danika… post them here. She never would let me take any of her as a teen,” she wrote.
The three teens had been friends but had a “falling out” over comments made on social media.
Blevins had told investigators he last spoke with Troy over Thanksgiving break, but that they “had a falling out and he blocked her on social media,” and he hadn’t seen or talked to her since.
Meanwhile, Williams reportedly told police that “Danika has made hurtful comments to Gabriel about being worthless and a gang-banger, which upset him.”
Sheriff Bob Johnson alleged the teens shot Troy “multiple times” before setting her on fire. Investigators say the weapon used in the ghastly killing was stolen by Williams from his mother.
“There’s not a clear motive, but I can tell you this: we’re going to be hopefully working with the State Attorney’s office to get these individuals charged as adults,” Johnson said Thursday at a press conference. “You do an adult crime, you need to do adult time. So that’s going to be the next effort we’re putting forth.”
The teens were arrested on first-degree premeditated murder charges. They are being held at the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice.
