SAVANNAH, Ga. () — The six suspects in the deadly July 2 shooting at Oglethorpe Mall are a step closer to being indicted for murder.

Four of them appeared in court alongside their attorneys in front of Chatham County Recorder’s Court Judge Crystal Harmon.

Royce Haynes, 17, Theron Robbins, 20, Franklin James, 16, and Johnathan Jones, 20 were in court Tuesday.

Twenty-year-old Aujawan Hymon and 16-year-old Dahmil Johnson will appear at a later date.

Detective Jessica Kurwel of the Savannah Police Department took to the stand and explained that the six suspects are divided into two factions she referred to as Group A and Group B.

Hymon, Haynes, James and Jone are a part of Group A while Robbins in Johnson are a part of Group B.

Our own investigation in July corroborated Detective Kurwel’s identification of these groups as affiliates of two opposing gang coalitions known respectively as 2X, pronounced “two times,” and 3X, pronounced “three times.”

We found the suspects identified in Group A are alleged to be a part of 2X and the ones in Group B are alleged to be a part of 3X.

Through observing surveillance video, Detective Kurwel said the groups made eye contact while Group A was inside the store Elevate.

Group A then pursued Group B into the hall and a physical altercation between Robbins and Haynes occurred.

Then, Robbins and Johnson fired at Haynes and Group A fired back.

Haynes was struck down but was able to get up and fire back at Group B as well.

One woman, Tina Smith, died after fleeing from the gunfire, and the six men are charged with her murder.

A significant moment during the testimony was when Detective Kurwel revealed that Smith’s autopsy confirmed her death was directly due to the shooting incident, citing the autopsy report.

“Terminal collapse, cardiac dysrhythmia, and her death are directly related to the sudden physiologic stress she experienced while fleeing from an active shooting and presumably fearing for her life,” stated Kurwel. “Accordingly, the manner of death is most accurately labeled as a homicide.”

The defense teams responded by seeking a dismissal of the felony murder charges, highlighting a potential delay between the initial 911 call and the moment emergency services discovered Smith.

James’ attorney Boone Phillips made a motion for the dismissal.

“The State is asserting felony murder here; they’re asserting that a felony took place and that as a direct result, this woman died,” explained Phillips.

“The question I was going to ask the witness is what time police got there on scene, because we don’t know that,” he continued, “But what we do know is it took 18 minutes after the call went out for Ms. Smith to be located. I think that The State’s got a big problem with that, and my motion would be to dismiss this felony murder charge based on that.”

Judge Harmon struck down the motion.

“Based on the testimony heard this afternoon, I do find there to be sufficient probable cause for the charges as alleged,” said Judge Harmon.

The State is aiming to indict the suspects by Oct. 1.

Chatham County District Attorney Shalena Jones said her office has been in contact with Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr’s office, and personnel there have been supportive of the investigation.

If gang charges are to be brought they will be included in the indictment.