Teenage girl shot dead hours before high school graduation

LOWELL, Mass. (AP) – A 21-year-old man has been arrested and charged with fatally shooting a 15-year-old girl hours before she was to attend her high school graduation in Massachusetts, authorities said.

Not guilty pleas were entered in court on behalf of Trevor Bady on Tuesday. He was charged with murder, armed home invasion, unlawful possession of a firearm and other charges. No phone number could be found for him and his court-appointed attorney declined to comment on the case after the hearing.

The girl, Ahliana Dickey, of Lowell, was supposed to have attended her eighth-grade graduation on June 14 but did not show up. Her grandmother called police after 6 p.m. to report that Dickey had been found in the house. Police said she apparently suffered gunshot wounds.

Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan said at a news conference Monday that Bady had been a friend of Dickey’s for “some time.”

Police said they received a call earlier on June 14, shortly after midnight, reporting that a man and a woman were fighting outside. The caller reported a woman yelling, “Get off me, get away from me, I don’t want to be with you anymore.” Police said the caller also heard shots.

The police arrived on the scene but could not find anyone. Video recovered from the area reportedly showed a woman, later identified as Dickey, screaming for help shortly before midnight, and a man, reportedly identified as Bady, leaving her home shortly after midnight.

They said the man allegedly took an Uber to and from Dickey’s home before and after she was shot. The driver later identified the passenger.