A 12-year-old girl shot and killed her 14-year-old cousin and herself on Instagram Live during what her mother is now calling a “freak accident,” per KSDK.
Paris Harvey shot Kuaron Harvey, before shooting herself, on Friday before 2 a.m., the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department said. The girl’s mother, Shanise Harvey, said she left Paris with family after a birthday party.
“Everybody was getting together to celebrate, and so the younger kids, they got a bed and breakfast,” Harvey said. “They were making a video, and [Paris] was playing with the gun, but it went off and hit him.”
She continued, explaining that her daughter, who was one of nine children, “dropped the gun” before it went off and killed Kuaron, who had just celebrated his birthday. After that, Harvey says Paris then picked up the weapon by its barrel before it fired at her, calling the incident a freak accident. Police have characterized it as a murder-suicide, but Harvey denied that it was a suicide.
Paris’ Grandmother, Susan Dyson, added that the pair were not arguing at the time of the shooting, per the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
“They were playing with the gun, when they shouldn’t have been,” Dyson said. “Of course, they shouldn’t have been doing it. I think it just went off. It went off by mistake.”
Harvey added that she doesn’t know who the gun belonged to, and that her family “should have basically made sure she was OK.” Police are now investigating who the gun belonged to and if anyone will be charged in the incident.
“We’ve got to look out for each other. We’re a family, and they’re young,” Harvey said.
