Teen charged in murder of 13-year-old girl apologized to her family before surrendering: Warrants

RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) -- Newly released search warrants reveal new details about the murder of a 13-year-old girl in Raleigh.

Mykia Daniel was shot and killed at an apartment complex in North Hills in April.

Search warrants show that 16-year-old Zylon Abrams, who was indicted with first-degree murder in connection to Daniel's death in May, is now being tried as an adult.

Wake County District Attorney Lorrin Freeman said the decision was not entered lightly.

"We have, you know, charged multiple juveniles just this year with homicide.," she said. "And so, you know, the proliferation of weapons and our children getting access to weapons and making poor decisions you know, certainly is something that is alarming the what seems to be a very violent trend, a disregard for human life from some of our juveniles is very concerning."

The warrants detail what happened before police found Daniel dead from a gunshot wound to the head at the Trails of North Hills Apartment in the early morning of April 22.

Investigators learned both students had been friends at some point and other students in Daniel's middle school believe she was targeted after a fight.

Days after the fight, Daniel's mother called 9-1-1 around 2:30 a.m. after being contacted on social media about reports of Daniel being dead inside the apartment. Police found a shell casing in another room at the apartment where she was killed but not the gun that was used.

Documents show police used information and messages from Instagram and Google to learn that Abrams allegedly contacted Daniel's sister to apologize.

In the warrants, the message reads, "I'm sorry, I'm turning myself in today," and goes on to describe that he wrote that he "didn't mean for any of this to happen." Others shared with officers that they were just 'supposed to scare her'.

Investigators said Abrams told detectives he had pictures of the gun used in the shooting on his phone, and they asked if he could get it back.

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Freeman said the limitations of sentencing under juvenile law prevent the district from being able to effectively handle the serious nature cases.

"We are making decisions to keep the community safe and, you know, to honor the victim and the victim's family's wishes. And the case also is just the lack of ability to hold people accountable within the juvenile system for the type of violence that we are seeing," she said.

Leaders say this is a major community problem and will take a community effort.

"There's a lot of discussion around, what does it look like to stand up a major effort? Joining with the county, joining with the school system to really focus on prevention and intervention," Freeman said. "And I think you'll see some plans coming forward pretty soon in that arena. But, you know, certainly, we have to continue to take steps to, one, keep firearms out of the hands of minors."