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Huntington Police Department is questioning at least six individuals this afternoon in the bloody slaying of four teens following an after-prom party Sunday morning about 4:30 a.m.
Police rushed to the neighborhood following a rash of gunfire, to discover three dead. A fourth died enroute to the hospital.
Police said they will not confirm speculation regarding a motive for the crime, but are looking for leads in the case.
Cabell County Schools Superintendent William Smith and family members of the deceased, released the names: Dante Ward, a 2003 graduate of Huntington High School; Michael Dillon, 17, a Huntington High School junior; Megan Poston, 17, a Cabell Midland High School junior; and Edrick Clark, a South Point (Ohio) High School senior.
Charleston Avenue resident Christy Thomas, who lives next door to where the shootings occurred, said Sunday afternoon she was still trying to comprehend what her husband and children went through while she was at work that morning.
A 12-year-girl awoke to the sound of gunshots, hearing a female screaming for her life.
"She said the gunshots sounded like cannons going off," said police. She said she heard a girl say, "Please don't shoot me, please don't shoot me." Then she heard the gunshots go off again.
The girl then looked out her bedroom window and saw two bodies lying next to her front yard before she ran to her father's bedroom.
Police said the shootings are a prime example of the escalating violence and drug activity in the area.
Garry Dillon, Michael Dillon's father, said he had no idea why his 17-year-old son and Poston were at Ward's house.
Poston was Dillon's date to Saturday night's Huntington High prom. The couple was supposed to be at a lock-in at the school after the dance, Garry Dillon said.
When Michael didn't come home after the lock-in ended at 5 a.m. Sunday, his father called the police looking for him.
Cabell School's superintendent said neither Dillon's nor Poston's names were on the lock-in list.
Garry Dillon described his son as a good person who loved life. "He had such a good heart," Garry Dillon said. "I just hope the police get the monster that did this to those babies."
National TV and news media have located to Huntington to follow the story.
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