13-year-old boy charged with murder for fatally shooting 16-year-old in Norristown
The boy told police he was scrolling TikTok and tapping the gun's trigger when it went off, striking the teen in the face.
A 13-year-old boy is charged with murder and related crimes after fatally shooting a 16-year-old boy in a Norristown home, authorities said Thursday.
The shooting happened the morning of Sept. 22 at a residence on the 700 block of Arch Street.
Prosecutors said the boy, whom The Inquirer is not naming because he is a minor, fatally shot the victim, William Boyd.
The boy came into possession of a Ruger .380 handgun a week before the shooting, according to the affidavit of probable cause for his arrest. It was not clear how he did so. He told police he “found” it, the document said.
The boy and Boyd were hanging out in the home’s basement and had recently smoked marijuana when the boy accidentally discharged the firearm, striking Boyd in the face, the affidavit said.
The boy called 911, and detectives arrived to find the boy on the front porch with his mother, where he told them he was responsible for the shooting.
The boy’s family did not live at the home where the shooting occurred. The boy told investigators that he’d taken the gun to meet Boyd, and that he’d checked to make sure it wasn’t loaded.
In the basement, the boy told police, he left the gun unattended when he went to the use the restroom for 10 or 15 minutes.
When he returned, he said, he noticed the gun was in a different position than where he left it.
He began scrolling the social media app TikTok and tapping the gun’s trigger with his index finger, he told police, and the gun went off.
After the shooting, the boy ran home and woke his mother to tell her about the incident, the affidavit said.
Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin Steele said in a statement Thursday that evidence showed the boy had “recklessly fired the firearm at the victim.”
The firearm was reported stolen in Philadelphia in June, according to the affidavit.
Steele said that the boy was charged as an adult in accordance with state law. But he said the case would likely move to juvenile court after a review from a judge.
The boy was arraigned on Sept. 30 and is being held at the Montgomery County Juvenile Detention Center on a $200,000 bail.
He is expected to appear in court for a preliminary hearing on Oct. 14.
