A 6-year-old boy is dead after he was accidentally shot by his older brother at a Stone Mountain home Friday afternoon, police said.
Officers responded to the home in the 3800 block of Wood Path Drive about 1 p.m. regarding the shooting. The child was rushed to Emory Decatur Hospital by a family member but later died, DeKalb County police spokeswoman Elise Wells said. His name was not released.
Credit: Channel 2 Action News
Credit: Channel 2 Action News
The investigation revealed that the boy’s 8-year-old brother accidentally shot him, according to Wells.
The father of the two children, 29-year-old D’Onte Patterson, was charged with second-degree murder and cruelty to children.
A neighbor told the news station that she did not hear the gunshots but anxiously watched as officers went in and out of the home investigating the incident. She said several children live at the home.
“Just the other day they were in my backyard, all the little kids playing on the trampoline, and this just really frightens me and makes me nervous because I’m trying to imagine which one of the kids is it,” the neighbor said.
Friday’s shooting is at least the third in DeKalb this year that resulted in the death of a child.
Janiyah Jenkins, 4, died a day after she was shot at an apartment in the Summit Hill complex along Bouldercrest Road on March 28, DeKalb police said. Her uncle, 27-year-old Levante Cummings, was charged with second-degree murder and second-degree child cruelty.
On Feb. 27, 4-year-old Miyell Hernandez accidentally shot himself with a gun that was inside a vehicle after his mother went into a Publix on Panola Road, DeKalb police said. A 13-year-old relative, who was inside the car at the time, ran inside the store for help, but Miyell later died at a hospital, according to police.
— Please return to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution for updates.
