Three teens, adult charged with murder after woman finds her teenage son dead in abandoned home

Four people, including three teenagers, have been charged with murder over the fatal shooting of 15-year-old Austin Payne in Albany, Georgia. The case centres on events after Halloween night, when Payne did not return home and his mother tracked his phone to an abandoned house, where police found him dead.

Police said Payne called his mother after being shot. Investigators reviewed surveillance footage, phone records and witness statements; witnesses reported that armed people approached the group Payne was with, demanded belongings and opened fire. A local report said Payne may have been targeted in an attempted robbery involving a handgun he had recently shown on social media. The suspects are a 22-year-old man, two 15-year-olds and a 16-year-old; Payne would have turned 16 on 12 November.