Lorenzo Larry, and De’Shayla Ferguson
A 17-year-old boy is the person who shot and killed De’Shayla Ferguson, 16, while she was 20 weeks pregnant, according to deputies in Orange County, Florida.
Lorenzo Michael Larry, 17, faces a second-degree murder charge in the death of Ferguson and a charge for killing an unborn child by injuring the mother, Sheriff John W. Mina announced on Tuesday.
Deputies arrested Larry on Monday afternoon. He killed Ferguson on Oct. 24, Mina said.
“This whole community should be grieving for De’Shayla Ferguson and her family and her unborn baby,” the sheriff said. “She died of a single gunshot wound to the head after a heated argument at the hands of Lorenzo Larry. So it has been reported by some that this case may have been related to human trafficking. That’s not true. There is no nexus to human trafficking in this case.”
Sheriff Mina also said that Larry killed Jemile Pittman, 23, by shooting her once in the head. She was found dead last Dec. 8 in a car off Rio Grande Avenue. Detectives identified Larry as a suspect.
Larry was arrested in May on a slew of gun charges. At the time, he claimed to shoot Pittman in self-defense, Mina alleged. He allegedly had fled the scene, got rid of the gun, and fled to another state. The sheriff’s office submitted an investigative report to the state attorney’s office in July, Mina said. There is no conclusion from prosecutors yet in that matter.
“We have to acknowledge that someone who amasses this many gun charges and is responsible for the killing of two women and an unborn child needs to be behind bars for a very, very long time for the safety of this community,” Mina said.
Mina also said that Larry was arrested in February 2021, at age 15, for charges including carrying a concealed firearm. That case was dropped.
The sheriff anticipated Larry will be charged as an adult in Ferguson’s case.
Former Major League Baseball second baseman Jemile Weeks used to coach Ferguson as part of his nonprofit WeFam United.
“We did some baseball swings, softball swings and things like that,” he told WESH in a Friday report. “And she was always willing to try something new. De’Shayla was definitely a bright spot. She always brought great energy, and I loved her being around.”
A GoFundMe campaign to pay for Ferguson and the baby’s funeral and memorial service raised $2,478 of a $10,000 goal as of Tuesday.
“We’re going to ask the community to get involved and help out the family,” Weeks said. “And whatever other efforts we can do, be in attendance for the funeral, anything of that nature, we’re going to do the best that we can to help this family out with this situation.”
[Images via Orange County Sheriff’s Office]