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Nine teens have been arrested in the June 24 shooting death of 16-year-old Trey Dean Wright of Johnsonville, S.C. Investigators have said the killing, which they allege was partially captured on a suspect’s cellphone video, began as a dispute “over a girl.”

Sheriff’s deputies with the Florence County Sheriff’s Office found Wright’s body along First Neck Road on June 24, according to the agency’s release. The victim had been shot multiple times. The area of the road where Wright’s body was found is just over 45 miles west of Myrtle Beach. The following day, deputies arrested 19-year-old Devan Scott Raper of Conway and charged him with murder. Investigators allege Raper fired the shots at Wright during an “argument that increased in volume” between the two.

Raper was not the only person in custody. As the investigation into the shooting progressed, Florence County Sheriff’s deputies announced a series of additional arrests in the weeks after the slaying. Prosecutors allege that several teenagers helped to lure Wright to the spot where Raper was waiting to meet him, armed with a gun and knowing he was prepared to shoot the victim.

“This court hearing and bond court and stuff is driving me crazy. I don’t even have time to sit down and think half the time on top of losing my precious baby,” Trey Dean Wright’s mother, Ashley Lindsey, told Fox News Digital. She noted that she and her son’s father had initially been told in the days after the killing that the investigation was close to being concluded.

The girlfriend of 16-year-old Trey Dean Wright was among those arrested. According to investigators, 17-year-old Gianna Kistenmacher of Myrtle Beach, the victim’s girlfriend, helped set up the fatal confrontation. Kistenmacher has been charged as an accessory before the fact, a felony, according to Florence County Sheriff’s Office court documents, with “aiding, advising, and procuring an armed person to be present at the incident location knowing that he was armed with a deadly weapon and that a violent crime was likely to occur.”

Authorities: Devan Scott Raper Did Not Act Alone

Florence County Sheriff’s Office Major Michael Nunn told WBTW-TV that multiple suspects were complicit in setting up the slaying. “They were complicit in bringing the armed codefendant, Raper, to the incident location and knowing that there would be a confrontation,” Nunn said. “They knew that Raper had presented a firearm to the victim and made threats to shoot him, according to the arrest warrants.”

South Carolina state law allows prosecutors to charge minors as adults in more serious crimes, such as murder. Florence County deputies confirmed that five of the accused minors are being charged as adults. “The hand of one being the hand of all is part of South Carolina law as well, so that’s the basis of the charge for each of those individuals,” Nunn said.

Three teenagers from the Myrtle Beach area were subsequently charged with murder in addition to Raper. The suspects were identified as 18-year-old Hunter Kendall, 18-year-old Corrine Belviso, and 17-year-old Sydney Kearns. Prosecutors have said that those teens had roles in the slaying serious enough to individually warrant murder charges.

Florence County Sheriff T.J. Joye told local media that the shooting was the result of a personal dispute that stemmed from a romantic conflict between two young men. “They had issues with each other, and it was over a female,” he said. “The sad thing is, you’ve got a 16-year-old who lost his life. You’ve got a 19-year-old who is going to be in jail the rest of his life. Over what?”

At the time of his arrest, Raper was charged with murder and with possession of a weapon during the commission of a violent crime. He is being held without bond. Kendall, who faces a murder charge, is also being held without bond. Belviso and Kearns each posted $20,000 surety bonds last week, according to online court records, and were released from custody.

The Florence County Sheriff’s Office has declined to comment on the case beyond its arrest warrants, citing an active investigation, and prosecutors in the case declined to speak on the record. Trey Dean Wright’s mother, however, has been vocal in her grief. She remains haunted by the senselessness of the killing of her only child.

“It’s been hard on me and my husband, because this is our first child,” she said in an interview. The fact that her son’s girlfriend and several of his peers are accused of helping Raper to kill him only adds to her family’s sense of loss.

Residents of the area around Myrtle Beach have also expressed shock that what began as an argument between two people could have such a deadly outcome. Officials with the Florence County Sheriff’s Office say their investigations show that teenage rivalries, bullying, and access to firearms all appear to have played a part in Trey Dean Wright’s death.