Facebook Live Killing Update? Serena McKay Death Ruled A Homicide

Facebook Live has delved into a world creator Mark Zuckerburg did not foresee: A string of killings have been posted to the social media platform through the streaming video feature. The Sunday death of 19-year-old Serena McKay from Sagkeeng First Nation, which is in Winnipeg, Canada, was allegedly the latest gruesome killing.

The violent video shows two girls apparently beating another to death. Police could not confirm if McKay, who attended Sagkeeng Anicinabe High School, was pictured in the footage. The assailants, ages 16 and 17, were arrested on second-degree murder charges, CBC News reported Tuesday. Their names were not released at the time this article was written.

READ: Facebook Live Death Video, Allegedly Of Serena McKay Murder, Remained Online, Canadian Police Say

Claude Guimond, the principal of McKay’s school, speculated that the teenage girls were on drugs at the time of the homicide. “After seeing what I saw on the video, you know what? There's nobody in their right mind [that] would do something like that, unless they were extremely high on whatever and just totally, like, out of it,” he told CBC News Tuesday.

The stomach-turning video shows a woman being kicked in the head, saying “I’m sorry” as the other girls scream profanities. “I can't imagine what the family, the community is going through right now. This is a 19-year-old female; this is someone's child, cousin, niece, sister. They're in shock, they're grieving over her loss and they're trying to come to terms with it,” Sgt. Paul Manaigre told the publication. “The internet, being what it is today, we have to be careful ... what we do. Everything is being put out there. It can be dangerous.”

Facebook did not immediately respond to McKay’s death.

As of Tuesday, the footage was still being shared on Facebook. “It is pretty disheartening, of course, for the community,” Derrick Henderson, cheif of Sagkeeng First Nation, said Tuesday to the Winnipeg Free Press. “We’ve no idea what happened.”

Previously, the company condemned the acts of “Facebook killer” Steve Stephens, the Cleveland man who filmed himself fatally shooting Robert Godwin and then posted it to Facebook. He killed himself days later.

“We have a lot more to do here,” Zuckerberg said last week about making Facebook a safer place. “We're reminded of this this week by the tragedy in Cleveland. Our hearts go out to the family and friends of Robert Godwin Sr., and we have a lot more work and we will keep doing all we can to prevent tragedies like this from happening.”

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