‘It’s really just senselessness’: Gang violence to blame in shooting death of girl, 16, police say; man arrested

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ORLANDO, Fla. — Orlando police have made an arrest in the shooting death of a teenager at a gas station earlier this month.

Detectives arrested Jacarious Simpson, 18, for his involvement in the May 2 death of 16-year-old Tavyiah King.

Watch an update from Orlando Police Department below:

Simpson was arrested Friday in Lake County and booked into the Orange County Jail on charges of third-degree murder and attempted first-degree murder with a firearm.

King was shot and killed May 2 when the car she was riding in came under gunfire near a Wawa at Silver Star Road and John Young Parkway.

Detectives during a news conference on Monday wouldn’t say a lot about what they know happened that night. But it appears the 16-year-old girl was just a passenger in the car the night she was shot.

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King later died at the hospital.

Police also said they continue to work several leads in the case and they hope to make more arrests, but have not released the names of the gangs involved.

“This is one gang versus another gang over nothing in particular,” detective Annemarie Esan said during a news conference Monday. “It’s really just senselessness, territory, those type of things. There’s really no perfect explanation for (it) other than an issue that we have going on.”

The judge told Simpson the evidence in the arrest documents is enough to hold him in jail.

READ: “They took my baby girl”: 16-year-old girl killed in shooting in Orlando

King’s mom told Channel 9 that she had just left a teen party with her best friend, a student at Evans High School.

They were passengers in a car that was shot up near the Wawa at John Young Parkway and Silver Star Road.

Police ask that anyone who may have information in this case call Crimeline at 407-423-8477.

See a map of the shooting scene below:

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