One of the three teenagers charged in the fatal shooting of an Australian who was attending an Oklahoma university on a baseball scholarship said in court that he thought the gun contained blanks.
The three defendants — James Edwards Jr., Chancey Allen Luna and Michael Dewayne Jones — have all been charged with first-degree murder in the fatal shooting of Christopher Lane. Lane, 23.
Lane, who hailed from Melbourne but was attending East Central University, was jogging down the peaceful streets of Duncan when he was shot from behind on Aug. 16.
Mr. Edwards told the court that Mr. Luna had actually fired the shot that hit Lane, but that he initially thought the gun only contained blanks, NBC reported. Mr. Edwards also said that he was in the front seat, rolling a marijuana joint, Mr. Jones was driving, and Mr. Luna was in the back.
Police responding to the August crime said the teens told them they settled on killing somebody because they were bored, and “for the fun of it.” They saw Lane jogging and followed him for a while in their car before pulling the trigger, police said, NBC reported.
All three defendants were under the age of 18 when they were arrested, but are being tried as adults.
• Cheryl K. Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.
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