21-Year-Old Arrested and Charged with Killing 15-Year-Old Girlfriend Just Before Her Middle School Graduation

Trevor Bady, 21, has been accused of fatally shooting Ahliana Dickey, 15, in Lowell, Massachusetts

• Trevor Bady, 21, has been arrested and charged with fatally shooting 15-year-old Ahliana Dickey

• The teenager had been due to attend her 8th-grade graduation on June 14, and when she didn't appear her family called the police

• The couple allegedly had been in an abusive relationship, according to a news release shared by the Middlesex County District Attorney's Office

A 21-year-old has been arrested and charged with shooting and killing his 15-year-old girlfriend just before she was due to attend her 8th-grade graduation in Lowell, Mass.

On June 14, at approximately 6:10 p.m. local time, Ahliana Dickey's grandmother "called Lowell Police to report that her granddaughter had been found, possibly deceased, inside her Lawrence Street home," a press release shared on the Middlesex County District Attorney's Office website confirmed.

Trevor Bady, 21 of Tewksbury, has since been arrested and charged with fatally shooting Dickey. The pair allegedly had been in an abusive relationship, the release on the District Attorney's website stated.

When Dickey failed to attend her graduation earlier that day, "her family became concerned and attempted to locate her before ultimately going to her home," the release said.

The teenage victim was found by police on the ground in a first-floor bedroom with apparent gunshot wounds. Multiple shell casings were also located at the scene, the District Attorney's Office confirmed.

"Shortly after midnight on June 14, 2024, Lowell Police received a call from an individual on Lawrence Street reporting that a male and female were fighting outside across the street. The caller reported hearing a female screaming 'get off me, get away from me, I don’t want to be with you anymore.' The caller also reported hearing gunshots," the release stated.

"Police responded to the scene but the parties could not be located. Video recovered in the area of the scene allegedly showed a female, later identified as the victim, yelling for help shortly before midnight and a male party, allegedly identified as the defendant, leaving the victim’s home shortly after midnight," the release added.

In a June 17 press conference, Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan confirmed that the shooting took place six weeks after Dickey turned 15.

Bady was charged with murder, home invasion, unlawful possession of a firearm, unlawful possession of ammunition, use of a firearm while committing a felony and discharge of a firearm within 500 feet of a building, Ryan said.

Bady was held without bail as he appeared in court on Tuesday, June 18, per NBC10 Boston.

“He’s a coward. He couldn’t even show his face, 21-year-old monster," the victim's grandmother, Tracy Smith, said, per the outlet.

At the Lowell District Court hearing, the assistant district attorney said, "On June 12, 2024, [Ahliana] confided in one person that this defendant made statements such as ‘I’m going to kill you, I’m going to kill your grandma’ and that he was going to shoot up her house and that he threatened to kidnap her and shoot her," according to NBC10.

Lowell District Court and the Lowell Police Department didn't immediately respond when contacted by PEOPLE.

Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Sign up for PEOPLE's free True Crime newsletter for breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases. 

Per the District Attorney's release, police learned on June 15 that "the defendant had allegedly taken an Uber to and from the victim’s home before and after the murder. The driver later reported that he had had a suspicious passenger and expressed concern. That passenger was allegedly identified as the defendant."

The June 17 release added, "This afternoon police were able to locate the defendant inside a Peabody residence. He was arrested without incident."

A GoFundMe page set up by the victim's parents to help the family has reached almost $12,000 so far.

If you are experiencing domestic violence, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233, or go to thehotline.org. All calls are toll-free and confidential. The hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages.

For more People news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter!

Read the original article on People.