News

Teens charged in Dana park shooting

Monteith

By Lightning Reports, Published: April 29, 2026

Henderson County sheriff’s deputies on Tuesday charged two teen-agers in the shooting death of an 18-year-old girl who was found in Dana Community Park.

Leron James Aratio Monteith, 19, was charged with first-degree murder, and Sheilah Tong, 18, was charged with accessory-after-the-fact in the death of 18-year-old Izabella Gamez. Monteith was also charged with misdemeanor larceny.
“The Henderson County Sheriff’s Office extends its condolences to Izabellas’s family for their loss and asks that the family be kept in your thoughts and prayers,” the agency said in a news release.
Monteith and Tong were being held under no bond Tuesday night in the Henderson County Detention Center.
Patrol deputies and detectives with the Henderson County Sheriff’s Office responded quickly to a report of a shooting in the park in Dana at 11:26 p.m. on Monday, according to the press release from the sheriff’s office. Upon arrival, deputies located Gamez and found she suffered from an apparent gunshot wound. She later succumbed to her injuries. During the course of the investigation, including crime scene processing and witness interviews, detectives identified and later arrested Monteith and Tong. Monteith was arrested for the shooting death while awaiting trial on pending charges of possessing a stolen vehicle, theft and "going armed to the terror of the public," court records said.