(CMR) A 14-year-old boy fatally shot his older sister after she tried to defuse an argument over Christmas gifts between him and his 15-year-old brother who was also armed in Largo, Florida on Sunday.
Abrielle Baldwin (23) was reportedly holding her 11-month-old son in a baby carrier when she was shot. The 15-year-old brother then shot his 14-year-old brother, though not fatally, for killing their sister.
According to the Associated Press, the argument over gifts started while the three siblings were Christmas shopping with their mother and the sister’s two sons, ages 6 and 11 months. It continued when they went to their grandmother’s house where the sister, 23, told the younger brother to stop arguing with his older brother since it was Christmas Eve.
The younger brother then told his sister he was going to shoot her and her infant, and then he shot her in the chest, the sheriff’s office said.
The older brother then shot his younger brother because of what he had done to their sister and he fled the home, tossing his firearm in a nearby yard, authorities said. He was taken to a mental health facility after he was located since he had threatened to harm himself. Once he is released from the mental health facility, he will be taken to a juvenile detention center.
The 14-year-old brother was charged with first-degree murder, child abuse and for possessing a firearm as a delinquent. His 15-year-old brother was charged with attempted first-degree murder and tampering with evidence, the sheriff’s office said.
Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri said said that in their investigation and interviews with locals, people said the two teenage brothers “carried guns all the time.” Both were arrested in car burglaries earlier this year.
“These young kids, 14, 15 years old, routinely carry firearms, and this is what happens when you got young delinquents that carry guns; they get upset they don’t know how to handle stuff, so they just take out their guns and start shooting each other, and one of them kills his sister,”Gualtieri said.
The 14-year-old has arrests dating to when he was 12 years old, including being a minor in possession of a gun, disorderly conduct, grand theft auto, auto burglaries and battery on a school employee, Gualtieri said.
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