A 10-year-old Missouri boy has been charged with murder for allegedly shooting a 7-month-old baby in the head, with the tiny victim’s teenage dad also charged for allowing the kid to get the gun.
The accused preteen killer — who was unidentified because of his age — is believed to be the youngest person to have ever been charged with murder in Missouri.
He was taken into custody Friday after cops rushed to a St. Louis home over a reported shooting and found baby Kiyomi Parker with a gunshot wound to the head, according to police and local reports.
Officers performed life-saving efforts as they rushed the baby to a local hospital, but she died of her injuries, the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department said in a statement.
Witnesses at the harrowing scene said the handcuffed boy picked up a gun hidden under a mattress in a bedroom and shot the victim, court documents obtained by First Alert 4 showed.
A 7-year-old child was also in the home when gunshots rang out.
The accused shooter told police he knew where the gun was kept, that it was easily accessible to him, and that he had previously taken it out and touched it before, according to FirstAlert 4.
Ca’Marion Pawnell, the victim’s 19-year-old dad, later confirmed to police he had stashed the gun where the young shooter found it, court docs show.
The relationship between Pawnell and the 10-year-old suspected killer was not clear.
The boy was charged with first-degree murder in juvenile courts, police said.
Pawnell was hit with second-degree murder, first-degree endangering the welfare of a child resulting in death, and two counts of endangering the welfare of a child creating substantial risk, the outlet reported.
He is being held behind bars without bond.
