Two indicted in January gang slaying of teen

[The Streets Don't Love You Back]

Two men were indicted Tuesday in the gang-related slaying of an Augusta teenager in January.

Brandon Ira Helm, 19, and Darian Deandre Postell, 20, face murder and gun charges related to the shooting of 16-year-old Brandon Desean Taylor on Jan. 26, according to the indictment.

Taylor was a member of the Pepperidge Thugs gang while Helm is a member of the Georgia Deadly Boys gang and Postell is with a gang called 23rd, according to Richmond County Sheriff's Lt. Calvin Chew.

The shooting stemmed from a fight involving members of the gangs at a birthday party at the Gracewood Community Center two days before.

Angry because of the incident, three alleged members of the Pepperidge Thugs gang shot at Helm and Marvin Major as they walked through the Pepperidge subdivision on Jan. 25, authorities said.

Those teens -- Kenneth Lavert Anderson, 19, Treshawn Cummings, 18, and Tyrone Eugene Reid, 17 -- were indicted on charges of aggravated assault and street-gang activity on Tuesday, as well, according to indictments. Neither Helm nor Major was injured in the shooting, but Helm and Postell are accused of going to the home of Taylor, an alleged member of the Pepperidge Thugs, to retaliate.

Helm is accused of shooting through a window as Postell kept watch, according to the indictment and statements from authorities. Taylor was hit in the stomach and died later.

The two incidents, along with the fatal shooting of 16-year-old Tykiah Palmer, who was pregnant, on Feb. 16, prompted several anti-violence rallies by members of the neighborhood and surrounding community.

The suspect in Palmer's shooting, Loviet Nushawn Edwards, was indicted on murder charges earlier this month.THINK