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Crime

09th Feb 2022

Police raid at TikTok stars’ home leads to arrest of suspect in murder of eight-year-old girl

April Curtin

Island Boys [@flyysoulja]

Ronziyah Atkin, eight, died after being shot on Friday

A man has been arrested on suspicion of murdering an eight-year-old girl following the raid of a TikTok duo’s home in Florida.

Andrew James Thomas, 20, was arrested after being found at the home of the Island Boys – a pair of identical twins who have risen to fame through TikTok.

The arrest came after Ronziyah Atkin, 8, was fatally shot on Friday. She had been playing in the front yard of a home with her cousins and siblings at around 7pm when she was shot.

The eight-year-old was rushed to a Palm Beach County hospital where she later died.

TikTok stars Island Boys then had their house in Coral Swings raided by a SWAT team on Monday.

A search warrant was executed, but the social media twins were not implicated in the investigation, Complex reports.

The Island Boys’ manager Dovi Bezner told West Palm Beach Florida (WPBF) News that Thomas stayed on their sofa two days before the raid.

According to the manager, the Island Boys had “no idea any of this was going on.”

The manager said: “We just knew him as a quiet kid and he would come and hang out and do his thing and go back to whatever he got going on but we had no clue about any of these allegations toward him.

“We just knew him as a good person, someone who grew up with the Island Boys.”

https://www.instagram.com/p/CYsiI2bhYZ9/

Alex Vanegas, who is one of the Island Boys, told WPBF news he cried when he found out about the murder charge against Thomas.

Thomas faces charges of first-degree murder with a firearm, attempted first-degree murder with a firearm and felon in possession of a firearm in the shooting.

Shots were fired on Sunday at the same home where the girl was killed, but no one was hit, according to authorities.

Palm Beach Sheriff Office said the investigation is ongoing.