Three Arrested After 8-Year-Old Wheelchair Bound Boy Finds His Uncle's Gun and Kills Himself!
A Newark, New Jersey family has been shattered after an 8-year-old boy found an unsecured gun and killed himself.
Officers responded to the 100 block of Schuyler Avenue Sunday night on a report of a child suffering from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, according to Acting Essex County Prosecutor Theodore N. Stephens, II, and Newark Public Safety Director Brian A. O’Hara.
Jahmeer Allen, who was disabled and wheelchair bound, was transported to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead.
Authorities say that at the time of the incident there was another child, who is 10-years-old, inside of the home. Allen's aunt, Jahnaya Black, 23, was also present but she was asleep.
Investigators allege that the boy's uncle, Marquis Wright, 18, brought the gun into the apartment and left it unattended.
Shaneefah Allen, 43, the grandmother and legal guardian of the victim who was not home at the time, and Black, have both been charged with second-degree endangering the welfare of a child.
Wright was charged with second-degree unlawful possession of a weapon; third-degree endangering the welfare of a child; third-degree transporting a manufactured firearm without a serial number and the disorderly persons offense of allowing a minor access to a loaded firearm.
The two women are in custody while Wright remains at large.
There is no word on who has custody of the 10-year-old child or that child's relation to the rest of the family. We are urging everyone who owns a firearm to make sure that they are stored safely and securely out of the reach of children. To find out more about proper gun storage, click here.
If you, or anyone you know, has information concerning this case, we ask that you contact the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office Homicide/Major Crimes Task Force at 1-877-TIPS-4EC or 1-877-847-7432.
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