17 Year Old Marley Lion

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7-31-12 Update: Four people have been arrested on charges in connection with the slaying of 17-year-old Marley Lion, including the suspected shooter who sold the murder weapon to undercover officers a month after the homicide, Charleston police said today.

Three are charged with murder because the police say their planned robbery led to Lion’s death in mid-June.

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CHARLESTON, SC – Officials with the Charleston Police Department say they are seeking the public’s help to identify an individual seen on surveillance video shortly before the fatal shooting of 17-year-old Marley Lion.

Police say Lion was shot in the head and died when he got to the operating room at MUSC. He lived long enough to tell them he pulled over to sleep and give a description of the shooter. He was shot five times in an attempted robbery

During a recent press conference, Police Chief Gregg Mullen said investigators are interested in talking to the individual seen on video wearing a white t-shirt and walking near Lion’s SUV before another individual walked up to the teen’s vehicle and shot him on June 16, 2012.

Based on scrutiny of the video, the shooter is thought to be a black male, 5 feet, 8 inches to 6 feet tall, with a medium to stocky build. He appears to be wearing a pattern shirt, police said.

Police said the man who walks through the parking lot prior to the shooting appears to be black and wearing a long white tee shirt, white socks and black flip flops. Both men appear to be in their late teens to later 20s

Mullen also announced that a reward for information leading to the arrest of the person responsible for the shooting has been increased to $13,000 and is growing.

According to Mullen, in addition to the recent pond searches this week, investigators have pulled surveillance videos from the area in hopes of finding clues to Lion’s murder. Mullen stated that the police department has brought on assistance from federal organizations to help them with the case.

Lion’s mother, Elizabeth Page, was also present at the conference carrying a locket of her son’s hair around her neck and thanked the police for their efforts.

“Now, I have a lock of [Marley's] hair in this locket I have around my neck and the people responsible for that are still out there,” Page said. “If you know something about that and you’re not coming forward and not saying anything, then my son’s blood is on your hands. You do not have to carry that burden.”

“We cannot rest until this vicious killer is brought to justice,” said Mayor Joe Riley, who urged anyone with information to come forward.

“We also want to say thank you to everybody in the community,” Page said.”We’ve had a huge outpouring of love and support for our family. We’re so grateful.”

Earlier in the day, the Charleston County Rescue Squad ended their latest search for evidence in two large ponds located just off Wappoo Road Tuesday morning.

On Monday, the Charleston City Police Dive Team, assisted by the Charleston County Underwater Rescue Unit, spent hours searching for evidence in a pond off Mulberry and Juniper streets in West Ashley.

The divers used metal detectors to search the pond, but only found old bike tires, beer bottles and a toy gun. No real evidence was recovered.

The search was just yards away from where 17-year-old Lion was shot and killed in the parking lot of Famous Joes on Savannah Hwy back on June 16.

CrimePAY$    $13,000 Reward              TipLine 1-888-755-TIPS (8477)

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 5th, 2012 at 4:09 pm and is filed under $10,000+, Solved, South Carolina. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.