Authorities in New York said a 13-year-old boy shot another teenager after a Snapchat fight between the two escalated to violence. The suspect’s mother turned him in to the police in the aftermath of the incident.
According to New York Post, the 13-year-old suspect was on Tuesday charged with attempted murder, assault and harassment. Authorities said the victim is also a 13-year-old boy, and the young suspect shot him while he was playing basketball at the Hunts Point Playground in the Bronx on Thursday.
The altercation between the two boys started on Snapchat. And the suspect is said to have threatened to shoot the victim a day prior to the incident. “They were conversing on social media and it just escalated out of control,” a police source told the news outlet.
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Police said the suspect shot the victim in the left knee following an altercation between the two boys. A witness who spoke with investigators reportedly said a different person gave the alleged shooter the firearm.
The victim was transported to the hospital for treatment following the shooting, but he reportedly did not cooperate with officials investigating the case. “I mean, it’s terrible, all the way around — a 13-year-old,” Police Commissioner Dermot Shea told WPIX. “You know, we have to do better, I think as a society, certainly.”
The alleged shooter appeared before a family court before he was subsequently released to his mother. “What do you do with a 13-year-old in this circumstance?” Shea said. “There is no right answer. The courts will figure it out.”
“And you feel for the victim but you also think about, you know, the side of the family with the 13-year-old [who] pulled the trigger here, and there are no winners,” Shea continued. “And that’s the message, there’s no winners with gun violence. So we all have to do more to make sure that these incidents go on a steep, steep rapid decline.”
