Teen Plays With Gun, Ends Up Shooting And Killing Two Friends

Two Florida teenagers were shot dead by their friend who was playing with a gun at a Miami-Dade County home, reports said.

15-year-old Joseph Blanco was visited by his friends Julio Labrada, 14, and Jose Villareal III, 15, at his home when the gun he was playing with accidentally discharged around 6:45 p.m. Monday, killing the two teenagers.

Both victims were killed by a single bullet and were pronounced dead at the scene, WSVN-TV reported.

“The same bullet pierced the bodies of both young people,” Miami-Dade Police Detective Alvara Zabaleta said.

Blanco has been taken into custody and faces manslaughter charges. When officers searched his home, they found two guns inside. The suspect was holding the gun in the garage of his home when it accidentally discharged killing the teenagers, the arrest affidavit said.

No further details are currently available regarding the incident at this time.

Labrada, who was in the eighth grade in Keys Gate Charter School in Homestead was mourned by his fellow students.

“I was very sad, and he seemed like a really good person,” a student who knew Labrada reportedly said. “Just things like that shouldn’t happen to kids.”

The principal of the charter school released a statement saying the Keys Gate Charter family was deeply saddened by the loss of Labrada.

Villarreal III went to a different school in Homestead.

Crisis counselors arrived at both school campuses to help students who may have been affected by the tragedy of losing a fellow student.

Miami-Dade Schools Superintendent Alberto Carvalho posted a message on Twitter saying guns should never be accessible to children as it ruins their lives.