Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - "He Shot me on Purpose": 9yo Drops Bombshell After 10yo Bestie Blasts Him in Playdate Bloodbath| Crime Alert 6AM 01.22.2026

Episode Date: January 22, 2026

A 9yo exposes his 10yo bestie's shocking betrayal after he's shot on purpose! The monster behind a massacre that left 5 people dead, including his own brother, makes a plea flip before trial. Plus, a dad schools his teen son that blood ain't thicker than the law! Jennifer Gould reports. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Crime Alert. I'm Nancy Grace. Breaking Crime News now. Mama, he shot me on purpose. A startling claim from a nine-year-old. Trey Michael Ledgwees and a 10-year-old friend playing when shots ringing out. Family says Tray Michael lost his right kidney, half his left lung, and his intestines were shattered by the bullet. The unnamed 10-year-old friend arrested for ag battery and Jeevi in possession of a gun. Jennifer Gould has the details. Nancy, a routine play date in Alexandria, Louisiana, exploded into a scene of unthinkable violence when that 10-year-old boy allegedly pointed a handgun at his 9-year-old friend and pulled the trigger, leaving the child with life-altering internal carnage. The shooting on Chester Street was initially written off by authorities as a tragic mishap

between two children handling a firearm. However, the narrative took a sharp, sinister turn when the victim, Trey Michael, had his breathing tube removed. In his first moments of consciousness, the boy gasped out a bombshell accusation to his mom, Lakeisha Ligurgis. She spoke to K-A-L-B News 5. When the tube first came out his mouth and he was able to talk,

the first words was me, mama. mama, he shot me on purpose. The sheer force of the bullets shattered Trey Michael's intestines forcing surgeons to perform a brutal triage that included removing his right kidney and half of his lung. As of late January, the resilient survivor is back home, but his body remains a roadmap of the trauma he endured. Ligurgis, who rushed to the hospital in a blind panic,

has now since become a vocal advocate for gun safety, begging parents to take the guns away before another kid is mangled by unsecured weapons. The 10-year-old suspect whose name is shielded by juvenile law was hauled off to the Renaissance home for youth after detectives determined the shooting was a calculated act of battery. He faces charges of aggravated second-degree basketball, and juvenile possession of a handgun.

While the boy sits in detention, though, a major question remains. How did a 10-year-old gain access to a loaded weapon? Rumors within the community suggest the gun belong to a family member of the suspect, but no adults have yet been charged for the negligence that allowed this play date to turn into a firing squad. The investigation continues. For the latest crime and justice news, follow crime stories with Nancy Grace on your favorite podcast app. You can also watch crime stories on Fox One and YouTube, and of course, follow the Crime Alert hourly update wherever you listen to podcasts. Nancy. Thanks, Jennifer. More crime and justice news after this.

A cold-blooded teenage gunman who turned a quiet North Carolina neighborhood into a suburban slaughterhouse has finally surrendered his fight in court. Austin Thompson, the now 18-year-old, accused of a 20-22 shooting spree that left five people dead and a community shattered, filed a bombshell notice of a plea flip that he is guilty of all charges. Robert Steele's fiancé was among those killed. He spoke to WRAL News.

That young man took the best person. person I had ever met away from me. I don't care why, but I want to look him in the face when he faces justice. The move bypasses a February trial and sends the case straight to a sentencing phase where Thompson faces life behind bars for the carnage he unleashed in Raleigh, North Carolina. The massacre began on October 13th, 2022, when a then-15-year-old Thompson donned camouflage and allegedly executed his own 16-year-old brother, James Thompson, inside their Sejali way home. Armed with a shotgun and handgun, he then stalked the Hendingham neighborhood and Noose River Greenway picking off victims who never saw him coming. The fallen include off-duty Raleigh Police Officer Gabriel Torres 29, who was shot in his car.

Mary Marshall, 34, killed while walking her dog. Nicole Connors, 52, gunned down on her porch and Susan Carnatz, 49, who was murdered while out for a jog. Thompson was eventually cornered in a barn after a five-hour standoff, suffering from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head that left him with permanent severe brain injury. In a three-page court filing, Thompson's attorney. Thompson's attorneys admitted that while the teen's brain damage leaves him, quote, unable to explain his homicidal motives, end quote, he accepts full responsibility for the quote-unquote deep pain he caused. Thompson faces five counts of murder and multiple counts of attempted murder for the wounding of Marcel Lynn Gardner and Officer Casey Clark. Because he was a juvenile at the time of the killings, he is ineligible. for the death penalty under state law, but is staring down the barrel of life without parole.

The teen's father, Alan Thompson, has already pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges for the negligent storage of the firearms used in the bloodbath. His motive remains unknown. And finally, talk about a parenting master class in doing the right thing. In Lovejoy, Georgia, LaQuan Stevens, 16, found out that blood, isn't thicker than the law in the ultimate reality check. The teen's dad made the heartbreaking choice to turn him in after a two-day manhunt, an amazing parental pivot to school his son,

Dad's house is not a safe house for suspects. Stevens is accused of blasting another kid in the face and neck through a car window, plus a second separate shooting spree, while the teen tried to play hide-and-seek with the G-Bee. his father decided to play by the rules, which meant calling the precinct. Instead of enabling a fugitive, this dad chose justice over a jailhouse, proving that sometimes the most inspiring act of love is tough love, Nancy.

For the latest crime and justice news, go to crimeonline.com, and please join us for our daily podcast, Crime Stories, where we do our best to find missing people. especially children, and help solve unsolved homicides. With this crime alert, I'm Nancy Grace. This is an I-Heart podcast, guaranteed human.