The Selma Times-Journal

PINE HILL – This small town was reeling Tuesday from the loss of two young people – one who died at the hands of a twin sibling.

Authorities said the victim was “being chased through the house with a shotgun.”

Shayla Hosea, 15, was killed instantly when she was struck in the back by a single shotgun blast Monday shortly after 5 p.m. at their residence on Carson Road in the Sunny South community.

Pine Hill Police Chief John Brown said her sibling was transported to the Hale County Juvenile Detention Center in Greensboro and has been charged with manslaughter.

A hearing is being scheduled in Wilcox County District Court for the 15-year-old male sibling, who was an eighth grader.

“He was chasing her after a little altercation,” Brown said. “There were other people there, who called us. There were a few witnesses, but they didn’t actually see when the shot went off.”

Gloria Phillips, a counselor at Wilcox Central High School where Hosea was a freshman student, spent most of her day counseling students troubled by the tragic loss.