Four teenagers arrested on murder charges after shooting at Sweet 16 party near Atlanta

Four teenagers are charged with murder after a shooting at a Sweet 16 party in suburban Atlanta left two dead and seven injured.

Timothy Coleman Jr., 18, was arrested Tuesday along with 17-year-old twin brothers, Douglas County Sheriff Tim Pounds said during a press conference on Wednesday. A fourth suspect, another 17-year-old, was arrested hours after the press conference.

NBC News is not naming the 17-year-old suspects because it is not clear if they will be charged as adults.

Investigators believe the March 4 shooting in Douglasville was gang-related, but Pounds did not elaborate on evidence that officials say links the youths to gangs.

“The people who were injured and killed were not the intended target,” Pounds said. “They were innocent bystanders. This case is still very, very active.”

County prisoner records show all three suspects arrested Tuesday are being held without bail on murder charges. Coleman was also charged with multiple counts of aggravated assault and battery charge.

A fourth teenager “will face the same charges,” the sheriff’s office said in a Facebook post on Wednesday.

It is unclear whether the teens have hired lawyers.

The district attorney’s office declined to comment on NBC News’s request for more information.

Additional charges could be brought in the case, the sheriff said.

Samuel Moon, 15, and Aijanai Hill, 14, were killed at a party. Moon was a 10th grade student at Lithia Springs High School and Hill was a freshman at Douglas County High School.

Moon’s family described it to Atlanta-based NBC affiliate WXIA as “the life” of their home.

“It feels like someone just took my heart and ripped it out,” his mother, Beverly LeFleur, said.

The shots were fired at 10:41 p.m. after Sweet 16 organizers decided to call off the event, the sheriff’s office said. The party came to an end after it grew larger than expected, with more than 100 teenagers in attendance and some guests smoking marijuana, officials said.

According to MaxPreps, a high school sports website, one of the suspects is a high school student on the New Manchester High School varsity football team.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com.

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