A 16-YEAR-OLD TEENAGER has been charged with murder in Pennsylvania after a selfie he sent of the alleged crime over Snapchat was given to police.
The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reports that the suspect, Maxwell Marion Morton, sent the image after he allegedly shot classmate Ryan Manga (also 16) last Wednesday.
The information was contained in court papers.
Although images on Snapchat disappear after at most 10 seconds, it is possible to take a screenshot, although the sender receives an alert that you have done so.
A recipient of the Snapchat did this, and their mother passed the image on to local police.
The paper reports that a police affidavit reads:
(Police) received a copy of the photo which depicted the victim sitting in the chair with a gunshot wound to the face… It also depicts a black male taking the ‘selfie,’ with his face facing the camera and the victim behind the actor. The photo had the name ‘Maxwell’ across the top.
Police recovered a 9mm handgun during a search of Morton’s home on Friday.
He now faces charges of first-degree murder, homicide, and possession of a firearm by a minor.
Snapchat has boomed in popularity since its launch in 2011.
On the service’s privacy policy, it states that messages are deleted from servers immediately after it has been viewed.
“We also sometimes receive requests from law enforcement requiring us by law to suspend our ordinary server-deletion practices for specific information,” it states.
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