Lorenzo Larry and De’Shayla Ferguson.
Newly released court documents in the case of a 17-year-old Florida boy accused of fatally shooting his pregnant 16-year-old girlfriend revealed that the alleged killer knew the victim was pregnant with his child. Lorenzo Michael Larry is facing one count of second-degree murder for allegedly killing De’Shayla Ferguson and one count of killing an unborn child by injuring the mother.
Larry is reportedly being charged as an adult.
As previously reported by Law&Crime, authorities have alleged that Larry on Oct. 28 killed Ferguson — who had been reported missing in August 2022 — with a single bullet to the head following a heated argument between the two. Police say she was shot in her right temple, near her hairline, and died in the driveway of a home located in the 5000 block of Broken Pine Circle in Orlando.
According to court documents just released on Friday, Katrina Moore, a neighbor and witness to the shooting, told police in a sworn statement that she heard what she believed was a gunshot and went outside to investigate.
“She stated she came out to see what was going on and she saw a girl with a book bag on who walked past her,” court documents state. “Katrina Moore stated she asked the girl ‘what happened?’ and the girl replied ‘Lorenzo just shot his baby momma. Katrina Moore indicated to me that the girl was Lorenzo Larry’s sister.”
The defendant’s 14-year-old sister, allegedly told police that she was in the garage with the door closed when she heard a gunshot. She said she ran through the house, out the back door, and went around to the front of the house. Once there, she allegedly told police that “her brother looked at her and spontaneously implied that he accidentally shot the victim, by saying something to the effect of, ‘I didn’t mean to do it.'”
The sister said her brother then wrapped a handgun in black and white cloth before running into the house and eventually getting into a a blue car with two other male passengers and driving away from the scene.
Larry’s mother, Pamela Patterson, told investigators that the driver of the car was Jerome Southerland, who allegedly told police that he dropped Larry off at an intersection “no questions asked.” Southerland allegedly told police that he did not see any firearm during the time Larry was in his vehicle.
Police say that during her interview with investigators, Patterson also “made it very clear that her son, Lorenzo Michael Larry, was aware that Da’Shayla Ferguson was pregnant with his child.”
One of Larry’s friends allegedly told police that he was on the front porch at the time of the shooting. Per the probable cause affidavit, the boy looked up to see Larry, who said, “Bro, what the fuck? I just shot her.” The friend said Larry then went inside carrying a gun.
Earlier in the day, the friend said he’d witnessed Larry arguing with Ferguson and “saw him slapping the victim.”
Investigators have also alleged that Larry similarly killed 23-year-old Jemile Pittman with gunshot wound to the head on Dec. 8, 2021.
“He admitted to shooting Jemile but claimed it was self-defense, although he fled the scene, disposed of a gun and fled to another state. So in those cases where the suspect claims self-defense, we work closely with our state attorney’s office,” Orange County Sheriff John Mina said during a news conference earlier this month. “We give them our investigative report for them to review so they can make a determination on that case. That was done back in July, and the state attorney’s office has not made a determination in that case as of yet.”
[image via Orange County Sheriff’s Office]