Man bragged about murdering 13-year-old runaway girl in Pennsylvania, police say

A Pennsylvania man allegedly boasted about fatally shooting a 13-year-old girl after she had run away from home, authorities said.

On April 18, Alezauna Carter, known as Libby, was found shot with a gunshot wound to the mouth in a home in North Philadelphia. It took weeks for detectives to determine her identity and notify loved ones.

At the time, family said she had run away from home with some friends.

“There's nothing you can do as a parent to prepare you for something like this," the victim’s grandfather, William Orr, said not long after the murder, according to WPVI-TV. “We all live down South Philly and southwest, so I have no idea how she managed to find her way down to this neighborhood.”

Friends and family grew frustrated with the lack of a suspect in the case.

“The fact that people know stuff and say nothing is horrible,” a family friend said at a vigil for the slain teenager, the station reported. “I don't care about the 'no snitches and no telling,' I know I'm telling. I don't care. I'm a mother first.”

On July 23, police arrested Luis Rodriguez, 25, in connection to the murder.

Authorities matched ballistic evidence recovered at a playground shootout the same day as Carter’s slaying with the gun Rodriguez allegedly used to shoot the teenager, WPVI-TV reported, citing an arrest affidavit.

According to the legal documents, following the murder, a witness allegedly heard Rodriguez say, “I shot her, I shot her in the neck.”

The same witness also alleged Rodriguez, who law enforcement officials claim was spotted on video entering and leaving the scene after Carter’s death, confessed to the crime several times and bragged about it.

Rodriguez faces multiple charges, including murder, and he is being held without bail. Police have not shared a possible motive for the shooting.