2 Teens Charged In Death Of 8-Year-Old Killed Outside Game By Police Gunfire

Two teenage boys have been charged with murder on suspicion of opening fire outside a high school football game in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, leading police to respond with gunfire that killed an 8-year-old girl, authorities said.

Angelo "AJ" Ford, 16, was arrested Wednesday and will be held without bond in connection with the August death of 8-year-old Fanta Bility, Delaware County District Attorney Jack Stollsteimer said in a press release.

The other suspect, Hasein Strand, 18, turned himself in to police Thursday, according to the district attorney's office.

Both teens are charged with murder despite not having fired the bullet that killed Bility. The district attorney said most of the shots that were fired during the Aug. 27 incident came from police officers, but it was the teens' gunfire that triggered the tragedy.

"Under the laws of this Commonwealth, my office has determined that Ford and Strand should both be held criminally liable for the murder of Fanta Bility, as well as for the wounding of all of the bystanders," Stollsteimer said.

Ford and Strand got into an argument at a football game at Academy Park High School in the Pennsylvania borough of Sharon Hill on Aug. 27. The two then "exchanged multiple gunshots with each other" outside as spectators were leaving the game, wounding one person caught in the crossfire, according to Stollsteimer.

The gunfire led three Sharon Hill officers stationed near the entrance to the football stadium to discharge their weapons. The "gunfire by the officers wounded three bystanders and tragically killed Fanta Bility," the district attorney said.

The 8-year-old girl was rushed to a local hospital, where she was pronounced dead that evening. She was killed by a single gunshot wound to the torso, according to the Delaware County medical examiner.

Charges against Ford, of Sharon Hill, and Strand, of Collingdale, stem from witness accounts and shell casing found at the scene, according to Stollsteimer.

In addition to murder, the two boys also each face five counts of attempted murder and five counts of assault and endangerment and other gun-related charges.

The attorney for Bility's family, former longtime Montgomery County District Attorney Bruce Castor, said in a statement obtained by CNN that he was "surprised that the charge of first-degree murder was brought because legally that would be difficult to prove. But I'm cheering for the district attorney, and I hope he wins."

Castor also told CNN Thursday he wants the "focus of the case to remain" on the conduct of police officers.

"The district attorney's press release does not change that he (district attorney) said (the) fatal round was shot by police," the lawyer added.

The Bility family filed a federal lawsuit against Sharon Hill, police chief Joseph Kelly Jr. and the three officers who allegedly shot and killed the 8-year-old, CNN reported.

The case is set to be reviewed Thursday, and an investigative grand jury will determine "whether the police officers' use of deadly force was justified," Stollsteimer said.