On Tuesday, Broward County Prosecutors said the teens will be charged as adults, WTVJ News reported.
A Florida high school student was ambushed and stabbed to death with a knife and sword by another student who was enraged that the teen had sex with the suspect’s ex-girlfriend, according to authorities.
The suspects, a 17-year-old boy, his 17-year-old girlfriend, and a 16-year-old girl, were arrested on Friday and Saturday by officers from the Miramar Police Department, in connection to the brutal killing of their Miramar High School classmate, Dwight “DJ” Grant, according to the arrest affidavit obtained by Inside Edition Digital.
Each teenager will face charges of first-degree murder, tampering with evidence and criminal conspiracy, police said, according to the affidavit.
On Tuesday, Broward County Prosecutors said the teens will be charged as adults, WTVJ News reported.
“A team of senior prosecutors reviewed all the evidence and circumstances surrounding the killing of 18-year-old Dwight "DJ" Grant before reaching the decision to charge the teens as adults,” Broward State Attorney Harold Pryor said in a statement, the news outlet reported.
He said formal charges will be filed in the coming weeks against the three teens, WTVJ reported.
"If this case were to be handled as a juvenile matter, the maximum term of residential treatment would be 36 months prior to release," Pryor's statement read. "A juvenile charge would mean that the person would be released after three years in the system and could only be kept under supervision in the community until age 21.”
On Oct. 17, Grant had been reported missing and his body was found two days later in some bushes at the Miramar apartment complex where he lived, a report said.
According to the arrest affidavit, the 17-year-old boy planned the murder several days in advance through text messages with his 17-year-old girlfriend, telling her the “murder will definitely happen soon.” He stated, “It’s happening by [homecoming].”
She responded that she would allegedly help. The boy also enlisted the help of the 16-year-old girl, telling her that Grant “raped” his ex-girlfriend, the affidavit said.
Tania Rues, a public information officer with the Miramar Police, told Inside Edition Digital, “We want to clarify in regards to a motive. Although the 17-year-old boy stated to one of the offenders that the victim 'raped' his ex-girlfriend, we have no evidence of any sexual assault. Detectives spoke with that ex-girlfriend and she stated that the sexual relationship was consensual.”
Rues added: “We felt the need to mention this to prevent any misunderstandings in regards to the victim.”
According to text messages included in the arrest affidavit, the teens planned to attack Grant at his apartment complex by having the 17-year-old girl lure him out of his apartment with the promise of sex.
Once Grant was in the stairwell of the apartment complex, two of the teens attacked him while the third acted as a lookout, the affidavit said.
“You know who I am and why I’m here,” the 17-year-old boy told the victim, according to the affidavit. “You know I have to kill you now,” at which point Grant pleaded for them to leave and said that if they leave, he will not call the police or say anything to anyone, the document said.
Grant then attempted to run away but was held down and punched in the face repeatedly during the altercation. The victim was able to reach for the sword that had been on the ground and raised the sword in order to protect himself. As this was happening, the male offender pulled out the small knife and stabbed the victim on the right side of his neck, the affidavit said.
After he had been stabbed, Grant began pleading with the teens to “end it for him," the affidavit said.
That is when the boy stabbed Grant in the chest with the sword, killing him, the affidavit said.
Two of the teens threw Grant’s body over a railing and then dragged it to the bushes, while the third teen cleaned up the blood from the stairwell with some cleaning supplies she had brought, the affidavit said.
After the killing, the teens made a bonfire at the complex to burn the clothes he had been wearing, the affidavit said.
Grant, described by his peers as “funny, kind, and respectful” was graduating high school and planned to go on to college.
His neighbors described him as a “good kid,” who was “always smiling,” a neighbor told NBC6 News.
“I watched him grow up, and that is what hurts,” the news outlet reported.
A vigil was held on Tuesday night where the family and friends of Grant, city leaders and members of the community gathered to remember a young man who was described as a person who "didn't take life for granted," The Washington Post reported.
