Teen girl shot dead hours before middle school graduation in Massachusetts as ex-boyfriend charged

A 21-year-old man has been charged in connection with the fatal shooting of a 15-year-old girl just hours before her middle school graduation ceremony in Lowell, Massachusetts .

Ahliana Dickey, 15, was set to graduate from eighth grade on June 14 but did not attend the ceremony. Her ex-boyfriend Trevor Bady, 21, pleaded not guilty to charges of murder , armed home invasion, unlawful possession of a firearm on Tuesday.

After Dickey failed to show up for the graduation , her grandmother called the police to report that she found her inside the home. Police said she had suffered from apparent gunshot wounds.

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Police said they received a call earlier on June 14, shortly after midnight, saying a male and a female were fighting outside. The caller reported 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, police said.

Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan said at a news conference Monday that Bady had been a boyfriend of Dickey's "for some period of time."

Police said they received a call earlier June 14, shortly after midnight, saying a male and a female were fighting outside. The caller reported 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, police said.

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Police responded to the scene but could not find anyone. Video recovered from the area allegedly showed a female, later identified as Dickey, shouting for help shortly before midnight, and a man, allegedly identified as Bady, leaving her home shortly after midnight. They said the man allegedly had taken an Uber to and from Dickey's home before and after she was shot.

Bady's court-appointed attorney declined to comment on the case after the hearing.