Police report: 13-year-old says he accidentally shot 11-year-old brother with cousin’s gun
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (WMC) - Memphis police say an 11-year-old boy was shot by his 13-year-old brother Sunday night at an apartment complex in Whitehaven.
Police said the shooting occurred at the Graceland Farm Apartments on Bonnie Drive Sunday night.
s cousin, 24-year-old Rashad Thompson.
According to a police report and an affidavit filed in the case, officers responded to the scene and found the 13-year-old boy holding the 11-year-old victim, his brother, in his arms. He told investigators he accidentally shot his brother with his cousin’s gun, which his cousin said was unloaded.
Police later found the gun in Thompson’s vehicle.
Teen, 24-year-old charged with 11-year-old's shooting
MPD said when their officers got on scene the 11-year-old had been shot in the head and was gasping for breath. Officers applied pressure to the wound and started chest compressions. The 11-year-old went to Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital, where he remains in critical condition at last check Monday.
Investigators wrote the 13-year-old took the gun prior to shooting his brother and Thompson “did not secure the weapon where it could not be taken by the juvenile again.”
The 13-year-old was charged with aggravated assault and Thompson was charged with reckless endangerment. Thompson is expected in court Tuesday morning.
Man charged after 11-year-old shot (Source: SCSO)
“Both of them was (sic) children,” said Stevie Moore, “Something we are not doing right, and we are not standing up for our community.”
Moore is an anti-violence activist who led a weekend Ride of Tears February 9th to draw attention to the number of children harmed in Memphis so far in 2020 by gun violence. Three children were killed in drive-by-shootings in January, and police have made no arrests.
Moore says Sunday’s shooting is the result of carelessness and shows how pervasive guns are in Memphis, with an 11-year-old critically hurt and his 13-year-old brother, the one fired the shot.
“How many children go home with their uncle, their whoever, got guns on the coffee table," Moore said, “It’s normal.”
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