An attempt to buy an iPhone ended with a 24-year-old woman being shot and killed by a Mississippi man pretending to be someone else online, officials said. — Photo by Martin Sanchez on Unsplash
A Facebook Marketplace meetup to buy an iPhone ended with a 24-year-old woman being shot and killed by a Mississippi man pretending to be someone else online, officials said.
A Jefferson Parish jury found 21-year-old Daniel Tenner guilty Aug 15 in the killing of Morgan Tyrone in April 2022, according to the Jefferson Parish District Attorney’s Office.
McClatchy News could not immediately reach Tenner’s lawyers.
Tyrone, of Pascagoula, Mississippi, was messaging a person on Facebook about buying an iPhone 13, the attorney’s office said in a news release. She believed she was messaging a woman, but it turned out to be Tenner, of Jackson, Mississippi, using a woman’s Facebook account, officials said in the release.
The evening of April 10, 2022, investigators say Tyrone, along with her 22-year-old partner and their 13-month-old son, traveled more than 100 miles from Pascagoula to Gretna, Louisiana, to buy the iPhone.
Tyrone arrived at the apartment complex the seller directed her to, officials say. Tenner then approached the vehicle’s driver side window and began speaking with Tyrone, according to investigators.
“During that time, Tyrone and Tenner were hesitant to exchange the cash and phone,” the district attorney’s release said. “Growing doubtful that the transaction would occur, Tyrone turned away to put the cash on the minivan’s center console. That’s when Tenner brandished the pistol, pointed it at the left rear side of Tyrone’s head and shot her without provocation.”
District attorneys say he then pointed the pistol at Tyrone’s partner and demanded she give him the money. He took the money and ran off, investigators say.
Detectives with Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office in Louisiana said they used Tenner’s cellphone records to trace his location to the apartment complex and later found him traveling toward Jackson. A US Marshals Service fugitive task force eventually arrested Tenner in Jackson in May, according to the news release.
Tenner’s lawyers said he “did not have specific intent to kill or inflict great bodily harm, which are necessary elements of proving murder,” according to the news release. They argued he was armed because he was meeting strangers at night.
Prosecutors said he threatened Tyrone’s partner after killing Tyrone.
In addition to first-degree murder, jurors also found Tenner guilty of armed robbery and obstruction of justice.
Tenner is expected to be sentenced Sept 15, the district attorney says. – The Charlotte Observer/Tribune News Service
