A 16-year-old from Bensalem, Pennsylvania was arrested last Friday after he allegedly said he killed a 13-year-old girl in a video shared with a peer on Instagram.
According to a press release from Bensalem Police, authorities responded to a 9-1-1 call about a possible homicide after the parent of a young girl said her daughter received an Instagram video chat from a friend who “stated that he had just killed someone.”
“He then flipped the video image and showed the legs and feet of someone covered in blood. He then asked for assistance with disposal of the body,” said police.
The teen who is said to have made the video was later identified as Joshua Cooper, who allegedly “ran out of the back of the trailer” when police arrived on the scene. Cops then found a deceased 13-year-old female in the bathroom, with an apparent gunshot wound to the chest, according to an affidavit of probable cause for Cooper’s arrest (via The Philadelphia Inquirer). The victim was reportedly identified by her parents thanks to the jewelry she was wearing.
“There were also indications that substantial steps were taken to clean up the crime scene,” said police, who later located Cooper and charged him as an adult with criminal homicide, possessing instruments of crime and tampering with or fabricating physical evidence. He has been denied bail and sent to Edison Juvenile Detention Center.
FYI: In Pennsylvania, juveniles can be tried as adults for murder.
According to the affidavit, Cooper allegedly told police “it was an accident” and said he would be “going to jail for the rest of my life.” Per the Inquirer, he also told authorities that “[his] dad is going to kill [him].”
Cooper reportedly told police he accessed his father’s safe “by replacing the batteries that his father had removed, which had made the combination lock inoperable” and removed and reorganized the firearms and ammunition inside the morning of the teen’s death. The criminal complaint also said Cooper told cops the victim came over and the pair watched a Netflix series together, before she left him to use the rest room. Though he allegedly said he didn’t accompany her to the bathroom, Cooper and his mother “terminated” the interview at that point.
Cooper will appear in court on December 7.
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