A 12-year-old Missouri girl is dead after she fatally shot her 14-year-old cousin and then herself on Instagram Live, according to the family.

The incident took place around early Friday in a St. Louis apartment where the girl, ​​Paris Harvey, was live streaming on the social media platform and shot her male cousin, Kuaron Harvey, before killing herself.

Police initially investigated the incident as a murder-suicide, but the family of the children believe it was an accident. Paris’ mother, Shinise Harvey, told a local outlet that her daughter was playing with a gun, “but it went off and hit (Kuaron).”

The cousins were seen on Instagram Live in the bathroom of an apartment the family rented for a party.

“(Paris) dropped the gun, and it fell, and it went off to my knowledge. And then when she picked it up, she picked it up by the barrel, and it went off. That’s all I know ... It was not a suicide. It was just a freak accident,” Shinise Harvey explained.

Family members claimed that after Kuaron was shot, Paris can be seen reaching for the gun, which they believed led to it accidentally going off. The children sustained fatal gunshot wounds to the head.

Paris’ grandmother, Susan Dyson, saw the video on social media and did not believe it was a murder-suicide. “It wasn’t a situation where they were arguing or anything like that,” Dyson said.

“They were playing with the gun when they shouldn’t have been. Of course, they shouldn’t have been doing it. I think it just went off. It went off by mistake.”

Missouri police have not shared how the minors had access to the gun. The investigation remains ongoing and officials have not announced if anyone will be charged with a crime.

police tape
In this picture, a piece of police tape is strung across North Camden Street, Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S. on June 24, 2018. Photo by Stephen Maturen/Getty Images
RELATED STORIES
Instagram