KERNERSVILLE, N.C. — A teenage boy pleaded guilty on Friday in the shooting death of 14-year-old Marcus Key, according to Forsyth County District Attorney Jim O’Neill.
Tristan Jones, who was 17 when the shooting happened, appeared in Forsyth County Superior Court and pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter. He received a maximum sentence of nearly six-and-a-half years.
The shooting happened in November 2021 at Fourth of July Park in Kernersville. Police said an ongoing fight is what led up to the shooting. Investigators learned that two teenage groups had been involved in several fights and social media conflicts in the past month.
Police said the two groups were at the park on the day of the shooting, including Key, but Key was not involved in the previous fights.
Investigators said before the shooting, one teen left to pick up Jones and other friends and bring them back to the park. The driver said he didn't know Jones had a gun on him until Jones lifted up his shirt, showing it in his waistband.
The groups continued fighting at the park, and investigators said Jones got back into the vehicle to leave. As the teen driver pulled away from the park, Jones leaned out of the passenger side window and fired a shot into a crowd, hitting Key in the face.
The district attorney's office said there were no witnesses to corroborate the shot was directed at Key.
The teen driver told investigators he didn't know Jones was going to fire the gun, and that they did not learn until later that night that someone was hit and later died.
The district attorney's office said of the many people who saw a person shoot over the top of the vehicle, only one, the teen driver, identified Jones as the person who fired the shot that killed Key.
