Teen boy shoots 6-year-old brother dead while the little boy plays a video game: Police

The teen told police he was trying to scare his little brother, and that when he pulled the trigger the first time, the gun didn’t go off

A 16-year-old boy in Mississippi has been charged with manslaughter for allegedly shooting his six-year-old brother, killing him.

The Sun Herald reports that Zaylan Sparkman, 6, died late last week after his brother, Albert Deonta Craft III, 16, allegedly shot him in the stomach.

Police told the newspaper they received an emergency call from a home in Gulfport at around 6 p.m. last Friday, and found the younger boy critically injured with a gunshot wound to the stomach. He was transported to a hospital and pronounced dead about an hour later.

After investigating the fatal shooting, police reportedly found that Zaylan’s 16-year-old brother Albert fired a single round with a handgun into his brother’s stomach. Neighbors reportedly said they did not hear a gunshot that evening.

Albert was taken into custody on a manslaughter charge and is being held on $100,000 bail.

People magazine reported that Zaylan was playing a video game on a phone when his brother shot him.

According to People, Albert told police he was trying to scare his little brother, and when he pulled the trigger the first time, the gun didn’t go off. The second shot hit his brother in the stomach while he was sitting on a washing machine.

The teen will be tried as an adult and has requested a public defender.

Police do not appear to be treating the shooting as intentional.

“If this had been a dispute, or there had been any type of intent, there would have been a murder charge,” a police spokesperson told the Sun Herald.

 

 

Feature photo: Handout