A teenage girl was stabbed to death in a Louisiana grocery store over the weekend in a violent incident involving four other minors.
The incident occurred around 7:30 p.m. Saturday, the Calcasieu Parish Sheriff's Office said in a statement on Facebook, when a fight took place between five teenage girls, ages 12 to 15, at a Walmart on Highway 14 in Lake Charles.
The girls had allegedly stolen knives from the store, which were used to stab the 15-year-old. She was taken to a local hospital, where she succumbed to her injuries. The fight possibly began at a movie theater before culminating in the stabbing at the Walmart, Chief Deputy Stitch Guillory said to news station KPLC.
The other four girls — two 13-year-olds, a 12-year-old and a 14-year-old — were arrested and booked into the Juvenile Detention Center, the sheriff's office said.
One of the girls was charged with second degree murder and the other three were charged with principal to second degree murder.
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Calcasieu Parish Sheriff Tony Mancuso said in a press conference Sunday that this is the third instance of a homicide involving juveniles in the past six months, calling the uptick in crime among minors a "parenting issue."
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"This is not something we can police our way out of," Mancuso said. "I just don't feel like this is a police matter. This is a parenting issue."
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Mancuso said that investigators have footage of the stabbing and other details found on the girls' social media accounts, and urged parents to monitor their children's online activity more closely.
He also said that the parish's already in-place curfew will be more strictly enforced.
"It's out of control, and we have to do something about it," he said.
The investigation is ongoing and anyone with information is encouraged to call Calcasieu Parish Sheriff's Office at 491-3605.
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