Authorities in St. Louis said a 12-year-old girl fatally shot her teen cousin before turning the gun on herself. And though police initially ruled the deaths of Paris Harvey and 14-year-old Kuaron Harvey as a murder-suicide, family members said the Friday incident, which happened during a family party, was an accident, St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.
Family members also said the two cousins were playing with a gun on Instagram Live when the incident occurred. “It wasn’t a situation where they were arguing or anything like that. They were playing with the gun, when they shouldn’t have been. Of course, they shouldn’t have been doing it. I think it just went off. It went off by mistake,” Paris’ grandmother, Susan Dyson, said, adding that she had watched the video.
The incident happened at an apartment the family had rented for birthdays in March. And family members said the deceased cousins were making a video in the bathroom mirror when the shootings happened. The two were alone at the time.
“Everybody was getting together to celebrate, and so the younger kids, they got a bed and breakfast,” Paris’ mother, Shinise Harvey, told KSDK. “They were making a video, and (Paris) was playing with the gun, but it went off and hit him.”
Family members said Paris may have accidentally shot herself after unintentionally killing Kuaron. Both cousins died from a gunshot wound to the head.
“It was no murder. It wasn’t a suicide,” Paris’ mother said. “It was a freak accident. It happened.” Harvey also said she hadn’t seen the video, but family members who did, narrated what happened to her, St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported. Harvey also said the deceased cousins were “trying to be too hip.”
Family members also said they believed Kuaron owned the gun. “No matter how good we try to raise our kids, they still are going to venture off,” Harvey said.
