Two 18-year-olds were arrested on murder charges Thursday in last week's shooting death of Anthony Strather, according to police.
Strather, a 17-year-old football player at Bowie High School in Arlington, was trying to break up a fight in front of a large group of kids when he was shot and killed Oct. 17, arrest records show.
Witnesses told police some of the teens who instigated the fight are involved in a gang.
Keyon Flynn and Alexander Onyeador each face a murder charge in connection with Strather's death, according to arrest warrant affidavits.
Marcus Hendrix, 17, was shot in the leg and a neighbor who was inside a house at the time was grazed by a stray bullet during the shooting.
Both survived.
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The incident began when Strather, Hendrix and another person were walking back to Strather's car on the 2000 block of Cliffside Drive after school, the affidavits both state.
That group was standing outside a house when a group of four males got out of a car and walked up to them "in an aggressive manner" as if they wanted to fight, the warrants say.
The group, according to the affidavits, included Flynn, Onyeador and two others.
One of the teens allegedly began to physically fight with Hendrix while the rest of the group watched, according to multiple witnesses mentioned in the affidavits.
At one point, Hendrix fell to the ground and the group of people began to crowd him, according to one of those witnesses.
Strather walked between Hendrix and the group, according to the witness with him at the time, to either break it up or protect Hendrix from the group.
Surveillance video obtained by investigators supports the claim Strather died protecting his friend.
“It definitely seems that he was going out of his way to help out his friend and do the right thing and then was just an innocent victim in this senseless shooting,” said Arlington police Sgt. Michael Chitty.
Friends and family said Strather was the type of person to protect his loved ones.
“That does speak to the character of the victim in this and it’s a very sad situation," Chitty said.
Flynn allegedly took out a gun and began shooting, according to information from witnesses and multiple videos that caught portions of the incident, the affidavits said.
Hendrix identified Flynn out of a lineup and said that he was the one who drove the car and shot Hendrix, the records show.
The witness who was with Hendrix at the time told investigators Flynn was also one of the shooters after looking at a photo lineup, the affidavits stated.
"[Expletive] it, I'm about to pop him," Flynn said before shooting Hendrix, according to the affidavits.
Another person with Flynn and Onyeador also fired a gun during the shooting, witnesses told police. He was allegedly given that gun by Onyeador before the shooting began, the warrant says.
By providing the gun to the shooter, detectives believe Onyeador is complicit in the murder, that affidavit stated.
Three of the four members of the group involved were known members of the criminal street gang known as "MUH," police records show.
Police did not identify which three were the gang members.
Flynn was initially arrested by police on Oct. 19 on a charge of engaging in organized crime, along with another of the teens involved in the fight.
Flynn's bail was not specified in the affidavit for his arrest on the murder charge. Onyeador's bail was set at $200,000, according to the affidavit for his arrest.
Strather’s grandfather, Lawrence Smith, who was raising Strather and his younger brother, spoke with WFAA on Friday following the shooting.
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“Violence doesn’t work. Gun violence doesn’t work. That’s what’s permeating our community and this country,” Smith said. “And until we come to grips with that, you’re going to see the same incident my grandson faced.”
Smith said Strather was a great kid who “would do anything for his friends and his teammates.” He said Strather loved playing football and had goals of becoming a football coach one day and perhaps even playing at the collegiate level.
Strather was a senior and a starting defensive end for his high school football team. One of his coaches told WFAA that the teen was entertaining several college offers and had a bright future ahead of him.
"Bright" was a word that classmate Joseph Singleton used to describe Strather.
"I know he wanted everybody to be safe, everybody he loved to be safe, and everybody loved him for that," Singleton said.
A GoFundMe page has been set up to help Strather's family with funeral costs.