An 11-year-old Brooklyn boy shot and injured last week was the apparent victim of gunplay with his older sister, police officials disclosed Tuesday.
Police found the youngster with a bullet wound to his right forearm in the stairwell of an apartment building within the Ocean Hill-Brownsville Houses on April 8. The slug apparently passed through the child’s right forearm, causing a fracture, law enforcement sources said.
The boy, whose identity was withheld due to his age, was rushed to the hospital for treatment. When police questioned him, law enforcement sources said, the child claimed that he had been outside at the front of the building when a man in a hoodie shot him.
However, police now believe the youngster was shot by his own sister as they played around the building. The siblings had apparently taken off school that Monday due to the solar eclipse. Yet as they played police say things took a dark turn.
“The 13-year-old arrives at the location and begins to show off a gun, showing everybody how she can hide it in the palm of her hand,” Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny said. “That gun goes off and shoots the 11-year-old. That gun has been recovered.”
Chief Kenny described the firearm as very small, yet police have not yet learned how the young girl acquired it. Chief Kenny also said that the siblings were the only two people in the staircase at the time of the shooting.
The 13-year-old girl was arrested on April 10 and is charged with criminal possession of a weapon, police officials said.
Chief Kenny also noted that the boy’s mother has been helpful to the investigation, and the parents are not expected to face charges at this time.
