Social media post led to a robbery plot, SC police say. Now 5 are charged in murder
A teen’s post on social media led to a robbery plot that ended with the high school senior shot and killed in Greenville, South Carolina, police said.
Police announced five arrests in the May 11 murder of Udeh Joshua “Prince” Osuwagu, Jr. during a press conference Friday.
Police did not say specifically what Osuwagu, 18, shared on social media, but public posts on his Facebook page show the teenager posing with a large stack of what appears to be cash the day before the robbery.
Speaking at Greenville City Hall after police announced the arrests, Osuwagu’s mother Kimberly Norman told the Greenville News, “I feel like they were very jealous of my son.”
“They had it in for him from Day One when he started posting things on Facebook about the music that he was doing and just having fun as a young adult,” she told the newspaper. “That’s it.”
“He had his whole life ahead of him,” Norman told Fox Carolina.
“There is a motive. Robbery is the motive,” Greenville Police Lt. Jason Rampey said. “We know that these men were attracted to Udeh’s apartment through a social media post.”
He said that early on May 11 three men went into Osuwagu’s home and demanded money. They shot Osuwagu in the head as he was sitting on his couch, Rampey said.
Rampey said there could be more arrests to come in the city’s first murder this year. Police said they charged four people with murder, kidnapping and other crimes in connection with the killing:
- Darius Rhodes, 18
- Natasha Booker, 17
- Tommy Lee Long, 21
- Jaylan Fair, 24
Police also arrested Jevonda Dillard, 17, Rampey said, and charged her with accessory after the fact to murder.
This story was originally published June 7, 2019 at 12:15 PM with the headline "Social media post led to a robbery plot, SC police say. Now 5 are charged in murder."
