MEMPHIS, Tenn. — A prosecutor told a jury that an escalating dispute and sequence of retaliatory events led to the fatal shooting of a Tennessee girl hours after the shooting death of another girl.
Jordan Clayton, 24, Branden Brookins, 22, and Carlos Stokes, 24, are on trial this week. They are charged with first-degree murder, and their lawyers say they’ve pleaded not guilty.
Investigators have said 7-year-old Kirsten Williams, of Memphis, was targeted when she was playing in the yard of a home in 2015.
Stokes’ sister, 15-year-old Cateria Stokes, was shot in a drive-by shooting before Williams was slain.
Assistant District Attorney Colin Campbell argued that Stokes wanted revenge in response to his sister’s killing.
Charges against a fourth man are pending.