Teenage boy charged with murder in Ed White High student's death

Tremayne Robinson accused of trying to get rid of murder weapon

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A teenage boy was arrested after a teenage girl was shot to death Friday afternoon inside a Whitehouse home, the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office announced Monday.

Tremayne Javares Robinson, 17, is charged with murder and evidence tampering in the death of the 17-year-old girl, identified by family as Alayshia Powe.

Officers responded just after 1 p.m. Friday to a shooting at a home on Watershed Drive in the Walker's Hamlet subdivision, just north of West Beaver Street. Police said they found the teenage girl dead of what appeared to be a gunshot wound inside the residence.

RELATED: Teenage girl found shot to death in Whitehouse home, family says

Detectives said Robinson was taken to the Police Memorial Building to be interviewed by detectives about the shooting. According to an arrest report, detectives could not reach his father and Robinson told them he didn’t want his mother to be contacted. The arrest report said that "when with evidence that no one else was in the house" and Powe "did not shoot herself," Robinson made a statement, which was redacted from the report. Robinson, who the report said attends Mandarin High School, was then arrested.

According to the Sheriff's Office, the gun used to kill the teenage girl was found after Robinson tried to get rid of it near the scene. 

It's unclear where the gun was found, but a neighbor, who News4Jax has chosen not to identify, has a security camera that she said recorded the moments before and after the shooting. According to the neighbor, video shows a relative leaving the house and three minutes later two males pulling up to the home.

“The driver went to the door and got her. She went to the car and was speaking to both of them. The driver left and they entered the house," the neighbor said. 

Two minutes later, she said, “He came back out, threw something in our bush, then went across, threw something in the drain."

According to the neighbor, that something turned out to be the gun police found in the storm drain.

Neighbors who were inside the area surrounded by police tape Friday told News4Jax that is why a JSO dive team was called to the scene -- to remove the weapon from the drain. 

The neighbor who captured the surveillance video also said she had seen Robinson in the neighborhood before.

"Maybe four or five times with her," the neighbor said.

Though it's still unclear what led to the shooting, the death of Powe, who would have been a senior at Ed White High School this fall, has left relatives and neighbors heartbroken. 

“It was a needless death," said Karen Hardge, Powe's cousin. "Our family does plan to be there every step of the way to make certain we get justice for her.”

Next-door neighbor Willie Jackson was still shaking his head in disbelief Monday.

“She was a good kid. She was a good kid with manners and she had good parents," he said. "I can’t believe this happened. It’s so sad.”

Prior to Powe’s death, her relatives were making arrangements to meet in Atlanta for a family reunion. Instead, family members are making funeral arrangements for the girl who, according to several neighbors, meant so much to many.


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