LEHIGH ACRES, FL -
Those who knew murder victim Dalton Haley and suspects Justin Wirth and Clayton Combs say the teenagers were close friends.
Haley, 16, and his mother, Amy Lorah, 43, were found dead in their Lehigh Acres home a week ago.
Deputies say Wirth, 16, shot them both the night of April 8th, after a dispute with Haley. He allegedly recruited Combs, 17, to help him.
Classmates at Riverdale High School say they are still in shock.
"Every day at lunch, we'd all sit together," said friend Donnie Waldie.
Others who knew Haley said Wirth even lived with him and Lorah for a time.
Another friend said Lorah would allow Haley's other friends to stay with them when they needed to - and said she treated Wirth like her own child.
Waldie says the two suspects seemed to be just as devastated as everyone else - which made their arrests even harder to believe.
"Those were the last two people you would think, because when it happened, we were trying to think, 'Who would do it?'" Waldie said.
Investigators believe Wirth killed Haley first, then shot Lorah in her bedroom. She staggered to the kitchen, where he allegedly shot her two more times.
Detectives say 9mm casings were found scattered around the house.
Deputies say Wirth and Combs then stole a safe with money and a gun inside, and Wirth used some of that money to pay Combs for driving.
Witnesses report seeing the two later the night of the murders at a party - where they had the safe.
Wirth allegedly emptied the safe of its contents and gave the safe to another partygoer.
The gun, a Sig Sauer 9mm, was sold to another partygoer for $140.
Wirth allegedly told deputies he sent a text message to Haley the night of the killings, but that he and Combs went only to the party, not to Haley's home.
Wirth and Combs are both charged with two counts of First Degree Murder and one count of armed home invasion.
The State Attorney's Office will decide whether to try them as adults.
Waldie says it was all senseless.
"[Haley] loved to do what any other teen like to do; Hang out with friends, go to the movies. Dying at 16, that's crazy. He had a lot of life to live in front of him," he said.
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