12-Year-Old Girl Steals Gun, Shoots 16-Year-Old Friend Dead, Charged With Homicide

A 12-year-old girl from Tennessee has been charged with shooting her 16-year-old friend with a stolen gun, Nashville Metro Police Department said Sunday.

The victim was identified as Brentrice Wilson, who was pronounced dead at the scene after officers responded to a report of shooting at Falcon View Apartments on East Palestine Avenue in Madison at around 3:25 a.m. local time (4:25 a.m. EST).

According to police officials, the 12-year-old, whose identity is being kept under wraps, snuck out of her apartment without her grandmother’s knowledge along with Wilson and several other friends.

According to a report in the Tennessean, the girls went to a nearby parking lot and began pulling on car door handles. The report states that the girls found an unlocked vehicle and burglarized it.

Police said the 12-year-old supposedly took the loaded semi-automatic pistol from the same vehicle which she later used to shoot her friend.

Officials said that the girls first brought the gun back to the apartment, and the minor suspect reportedly pointed it at other girls before discharging it, thus killing Wilson.

The investigation in the case is still ongoing and as of now the girl is charged with criminal homicide after consultations with the District Attorney’s Office. Nashville Police Department tweeted about the girl being charged with criminal homicide at Juvenile Court.

In a fairly similar incident from Dec. 20, 2017, a 15-year-old boy was accidentally shot by a teen in Glendale, Arizona. Detective Tom Sye of the Glendale Police Department said then, "Upon arrival, officers discovered a juvenile male had accidentally shot another juvenile male who was transported to a local valley hospital with life-threatening injuries.”

According to a report in Fox10 News, the boy who was shot was declared dead the same day. No names were released by the police as the boys involved were both juveniles.

In another incident on Dec. 26, 2017, the teenage son of a pastor accidentally shot and killed his 15-year-old cousin while they were looking for a possible intruder at a church in Will County, Delaware, Chicago Tribune reported.

According to police officials, the boys were at their home, which is attached to Christian Faith Center church outside Wilmington, when they thought they heard a noise.

The pastor's 17-year-old son grabbed a rifle from his parents’ bedroom but he tripped on an extension cord thus causing the gun to fire and kill the cousin.

Police said the teen was not going to be charged as the whole incident was considered an accident, and the teen had a valid Firearm Owner’s ID card and had been trained in the handling of a firearm.

The teen that was shot was identified as Mikey Wilkey of Godley, a community of a few hundred people about eight miles southwest of Wilmington. According to Wilkey’s half-sister Danielle Picciola, it was unbelievable that such a tragedy could take place in their family.