15-year-old girl stabbed to death in grocery store during fight with 4 younger girls

A 15-year-old girl was stabbed to death at a grocery store during an alleged fight with four other girls, all of whom were younger than she was, police said.

The incident occurred at approximately 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 23 at a grocery store in Lake Charles, Louisiana, when a fight took place between a 15-year-old girl and four other females all between the ages of 12 and 14, the Calcasieu Parish Sheriff's Office (CPSO) said in a statement on social media.

The cause and the motive of the altercation is currently unknown and was not disclosed in the CPSO statement but authorities did confirm that, during the incident, the 15-year-old girl was stabbed and the victim was subsequently transported to a local area hospital where she died. Where she was stabbed on her body and her cause of death has not yet been released.

“In last night’s case, they stole knives from the actual store where they were at. It is really heart-breaking when we have to come in and pick up the pieces because so many families are damaged after this,” said Calcasieu Parish Sheriff Tony Mancuso at a press conference on Sunday night.

He also disclosed that much of the evidence that authorities were able to gather came directly from videos posted to social media.

“Our whole case unfolded before us through live Facebook and Instagram … we have videos of everything that took place and it’s very disturbing,” said Mancuso. “The whole murder was played out on [social media] so, again, there appeared to be no remorse. It was very cold to see 12, 13, 14 and 15-year-olds acting this way and we as a society can’t tolerate it. We cannot let this plague and take over our community.”

Calcasieu Parish Sheriff’s Office said that the four females -- aged 14, two girls who are 13 and 12 -- were all booked into the juvenile detention center and one was charged with second degree murder while the other three were charged with principal to second degree murder.

The investigation is currently ongoing and Mancuso indicated that there may be other arrests involved in the case.

Said Mancuso: “This is the third homicide in six months that we’ve had that involved juveniles that range from 11 to 16 years old. They come from all backgrounds, all races. This is just a problem that we are having with kids having access to weapons.”