Monday, February 10, 2014

Boston teen unintentionally shoots and kills 9-year-old brother

9-year-old Janmarco Pena, of Boston, Massachusetts, was home sick on Friday.  His 14-year-old brother was home as well.  According to police, the older boy was "handling a firearm recklessly when it discharged, striking his younger brother."

Janmarco was shot in the chest. When police arrived on the scene they found he had died of his injuries.  Boston police commissioner stated, "Our hearts are broken for everyone involved here. I was here when they wheeled the boy out; it breaks your heart to see a young kid like that,  a curly-haired kid, be wheeled by with a gunshot wound to the chest.  It is just a terrible, terrible incident for the family involved."

Police have charged the 14-year-old with involuntary manslaughter and unlawful possession of a firearm. The evidence does not suggest that any other person in the home knew the boy possessed the gun. Police have not said where the boy got the gun.

In response to the shooting, Boston Mayor Mary Walsh announced plans for a gun buyback program.  "We've done gun buyback programs in the past that have been successful but we've got to try something a little different.  National gun reform is important.  Most of these guns are coming from out-of-state, states that don't have tough gun laws."

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