Witness: 'Bored' Kids Shot at Many Before Killing Aussie

Luna, Jones to be tried as adults; Edwards may have charges reduced
By Arden Dier,  Newser Staff
Posted Mar 13, 2014 9:49 AM CDT
Witness: 'Bored' Kids Shot at Many Before Killing Aussie
This file photo provided by East Central University shows Christopher Lane, an Australian who was on a baseball scholarship at East Central University in Ada, Okla.   (AP Photo/East Central University Communications & Marketing, Gina Smith)

More chilling details have emerged in the case of three Oklahoma teens charged with first-degree murder in the apparent boredom killing of an Australian baseball player. A judge yesterday ruled Chancey Luna and Michael Jones will be tried as adults in the death of Christopher Lane, who was shot in the back while jogging in Oklahoma, where he was a college student. Both were minors at the time. A third teen, James Edwards, will testify for the prosecution and may have his charges reduced, Reuters reports. The scariest details of the hearing, however, came from an employee working at the jail where the boys are being held.

When another inmate asked Jones, "Why did you have to shoot an Australian? Why didn’t you drive and shoot somebody else?" Heather George testified yesterday that she overheard Jones say, "We tried to shoot several other people, but we kept missing," the Daily Mail reports. Edwards also told the preliminary hearing that Luna fired the .22 revolver that killed Lane but the gun may have gone off after the vehicle Jones was driving swerved unexpectedly. Edwards also noted Luna later said he thought the gun held blanks. A trial date is pending, ABC News Australia notes. (More Australia stories.)

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