2nd suspect surrenders in killing of 2 teens in Pottstown, Pa.

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Wednesday, October 26, 2022
2nd suspect surrenders in killing of 2 teens in Montco
Deonte Kelly, 23, of Philadelphia, turned himself in to Montgomery County Detectives in the killing of two teens in Pottstown, Pennsylvania.

POTTSTOWN, Pennsylvania (WPVI) -- A second suspect is under arrest for the murder of two teenagers in Pottstown, Montgomery County last week.

Deonte Kelly, 23, of Philadelphia, turned himself in to Montgomery County Detectives at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday.

Dominic Carboni, 17, of Schwenksville, Pa., was arrested last Thursday.

Dominic Carboni

They're both charged with murder in the shooting deaths of 17-year-old Skyler Fox, of Stowe, and 18-year-old Brandon Bacote-Byer, of Lower Pottsgrove, on October 17.

Police responding to 911 calls of shots fired arrived to the area of Fourth and Johnson streets around 11:30 p.m. to find the two deceased victims lying on the ground near Fox's vehicle.

Officers recovered numerous fired cartridge casings, one projectile and a 9 mm handgun with an obliterated serial number at the scene.

Investigators say Carboni was meeting Fox to buy marijuana.

Prior to that meeting, officials say Carboni picked up Kelly in his maroon pickup truck and drove to the meetup location.

"Recovered text data showed that Fox and Carboni had arranged the meeting and marijuana purchase through a series of messages throughout the day, beginning at 3:08 p.m. and ending at 11:22 p.m., just 11 minutes before the shooting when both Fox and Carboni's cellphones were in the area of the shooting," the D.A.'s Office said.

"Text records also showed that at 11:45 p.m. that same evening, just minutes after the shooting, Carboni deleted his messaging history with Fox."

It's unclear what the second victim's role was in the deal.

An autopsy was conducted on both and determined the teens died of multiple gunshot wounds and the manner of death was homicide.

According to officials, surveillance video showed a maroon-colored Ford pickup truck fleeing the area after the killings. They say it's the same color and model as a Ford truck owned by Carboni's father, which he had been seen driving earlier in the evening.

Kelly and Carboni were charged with two counts of First-Degree Murder, Second-Degree Murder, Third-Degree Murder and Robbery.