The case of a 14-year-old girl accidentally shot to death by a pre-teen boy has so far resulted in one sentencing and one indictment.
A Cobb County jury formally charged Jahleel Brown of second-degree murder on Thursday. That charge became law in July 2014, and is for when “the death of a child results from criminal negligence,” said Cobb district attorney’s spokeswoman Kim Isaza.
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Investigators said an 11-year-old boy is the one who pulled the trigger in December 2016. The boy, Isaza said, recently pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter and was committed to the Department of Juvenile Justice for two years.
She said that DJJ staff has to assess whether or not the boy is fit for incarceration or whether he could be under their supervision at his home.
The juvenile justice system is notoriously closeted about its methods and results; the boy’s identity is unknown.
The shooting happened Dec. 6, 2016, at the Sierra Forest apartments on Mableton Parkway.
Police wrote in a warrant that the boy found Brown's 9 mm Hi-Point handgun in a bedroom and shot the girl, identified by Channel 2 Action News as Destiny McNichols.
The warrant described Brown leaving his gun unsecured as a “substantial and unjustifiable risk.”
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“The boy was screaming that he shot her by accident and he was crying. I guess he was wondering what to do next,” witness Ghervon Blue, told the news station.
Witnesses and others who know the family told investigators about times when the boy had the gun and had been “showing off” to his friends, the warrant said.
In addition, there was an incident in which a three-year-old at the apartment found Brown’s gun and was walking through the apartment until the child’s mother took the gun away. She ordered Brown to take the gun out of the apartment.
Brown bonded out of Cobb jail the same day he was arrested with a bail of $38,720.
Brown’s next court date wasn’t listed in the online Cobb Superior Court system.
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