12-year-old boy and his friend getting juice from food truck each shot at least a dozen times by 3 masked men angry about unrelated shooting: Cops

Police have made two arrests in the shooting deaths of two boys in Washington, D.C., finding that the victims were targeted not for who they were but for where they lived.

Antonio Terry, 18, and Markell Woodings, 20, have each been charged with two counts of first-degree murder while armed in the deaths of 12-year-old Mhilo Young and 14-year-old Tyale Coates, the Metropolitan Police Department announced. The case is still being investigated.

On April 14, at about 3:25 p.m., Tyale and Mhilo were visiting a food truck on the 700 block of Kenilworth Avenue in Washington, D.C., as Law&Crime previously reported. The area is in the northeast part of the city, where both boys lived.

Tyale wasn't allowed outside alone in his neighborhood, and he had a 7:30 p.m. curfew, his family told local ABC affiliate WJLA. His mother apparently walked him everywhere, but in the preceding days, his parents had let him ride the bus home from school for the first time.

On this specific day, Tyale had reportedly asked his mother if he could get some food from the new food truck down the street. She obliged.

"He had permission to be where he was at, and he just got there, 'cause I was just on the phone with his mom when he asked," his aunt, Morgan Wingate, told the TV station.

Just after Tyale received french fries and juice, three men in masks got out of a car and started shooting in the parking lot before getting back inside the vehicle and driving away, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia.

Mhilo was struck 18 times, and Tyale was hit 12 times, local NBC affiliate WRC reported. Seventy shell casings were found at the scene, and police said it appears that the shooting was more about the neighborhood than the victims themselves.

The suspects were reportedly motivated by anger over the killing of their friend, Dereon Womack, days before. The defendants allegedly set out to shoot someone from their rival neighborhood, and when they learned two boys were outside, they drove to the area and opened fire, police said.

Officers arrived to find both boys with gunshot wounds. Tyale was pronounced dead at the scene, and Mhilo was brought to an area hospital, where he died.

Wingate said Tyale's mother called her. "She was screaming. She was screaming," the aunt recounted. "I'm like, 'what?' She was like, 'They shot my son.'"

Police are still searching for a third suspect in the shooting, WRC noted. Authorities said evidence on the shell casings led to Terry's and Woodings' arrests, and cops alleged that the suspects posted pictures of guns on social media and bragged about the deaths to their friend.

Terry is due in court for a preliminary hearing on Nov. 9. Woodings' court information is not yet clear.