HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — Police brought several people in for questioning and searched for clues Monday in the shooting deaths of four teenagers on the morning after the prom.
The teenagers were killed early Sunday in the front yard of the apartment house where one of the victims lived. Police believe that man, Dante Ward, may have been the intended target and the other three were killed to prevent them from identifying the shooter, police Capt. Steve Hall said.
No immediate arrests were made, but nine people were brought in for questioning, five of whom were from Detroit, Hall said. Two were later released.
"We may have the shooter in custody," Hall said. "They are being interviewed, they're being interrogated. I'm not saying we do or we don't. We just don't know."
The victims were Ward, 19; Eddrick Clark, 18; Michael Dillon, 17; and Megan Poston, 16. Poston was Dillon's date to his high school prom Saturday night. Authorities said the two other victims did not attend the prom.
A neighbor said he and his daughter were awakened by gunshots and a girl pleading for her life.
"There was a burst of gunfire, and then there was a small pause, and that's when I heard the girl say, 'Please don't kill me, I'm sorry,' " Michael Thomas said. "And I heard two more gunshots."
Thomas added: "You send your kids to the prom and you just hope they don't drink and drive. You'd never expect they're going to get murdered in cold blood."
Dillon's father said he had no idea why his son and Poston were at Ward's house. "I just hope the police get the monster that did this to those babies," Garry Dillon said.
Hundreds of mourners gathered at the shooting scene Monday, some singing "Happy Birthday" for Ward, whose 20th birthday would have been Monday.
Some people said the neighborhood had deteriorated lately because of drugs.
"Things started going downhill, and then they sort of jumped off a cliff," Damon Core said as he held a candle out the window of his top-floor apartment.