A Montgomery County teen was sentenced to probation for killing his sister in an accidental shooting
Jah'sir Vasquez, 14, accidentally killed his sister while handling his mother's gun last year, prosecutors said.
A Montgomery County teen who accidentally killed his sister while carrying his mother’s gun last year was sentenced to probation during a hearing Friday morning.
Jah’sir Vasquez, 14, also must perform 30 hours of community service, as well as attend anger management and therapy sessions with court-appointed counselors, according to a ruling by County Court Judge Garrett Page.
Because Vasquez’s case was handled in juvenile court, his probation is open-ended, and its duration will be determined by his progress in therapy and other rehabilitative services.
His attorney, Francis Genovese, said Friday that he was grateful prosecutors recognized the case as “a complete tragedy that has torn a family apart.”
“Everybody involved saw that what this young man needed was further counseling and treatment, and certainly not placement in a juvenile facility,” Genovese said. “That would’ve been completely counterproductive.”
Genovese added that the teen, who now lives with his aunt and uncle, is making progress toward dealing with the guilt, grief, and self-doubt that he has felt since his sister’s death.
Vasquez pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter in January in the death of his sister, Jasiyah, 12. Prosecutors had agreed to dismiss the more serious third-degree murder charge the teen faced after evidence showed that the fatal shot was fired accidentally.
Investigators were called to the apartment Vasquez’s mother rents in Collegeville in March 2021 for reports of a shooting. There, they found his sister shot once in the chest. She was pronounced dead at the scene.
Surveillance footage from a home security camera showed Vasquez holding the gun and raising it toward the girl before a single shot is fired. In an interview with detectives, the teen said he never intended to hurt his sister, and that the gun went off in his hands.
The gun’s magazine was empty, but one round was loaded in the weapon’s chamber, detectives said.
His mother, Daisy Vasquez, later told investigators she had asked her son to retrieve the gun from her truck parked outside, believing it to be unloaded. Daisy Vasquez, 32, was charged with endangering the welfare of children and reckless endangerment in connection with the shooting. Her case is pending in Montgomery County Court.
As a condition of his probation, Vasquez is to have no contact with his mother.