A 13-year-old boy who was manufacturing and selling guns he called “ghost guns” has been arrested after he allegedly shot and killed his 14-year-old sister with one of his own homemade firearms.
According to the Douglas County, Georgia, Sheriff’s Office, two people had come to the family’s home in Douglasville, about 20 miles west of Atlanta, on November 27 to purchase a gun that the 13-year-old made.
But instead of buying the firearm, the pair stole the gun from the 13-year-old and fled the scene, the sheriff told reporters. The boy then shot at them as they were leaving, Pounds said, but instead struck his 14-year-old sister, who was identified by the sheriff’s office as Kyra Scott. Investigators believe the weapon he used was one that he had made.
Police authorities have arrested Kyra’s 13-year-old brother and 19-year-old Yusef Jabryil McArthur El — one of the two people who had come to buy the homemade gun — the sheriff’s office said in a news release. The 13-year-old has admitted to the shooting.
The 13-year-old boy has been charged with felony murder, the sheriff’s office said in a statement, and McArthur El has been charged with robbery and felony murder.
According to the news release from the sheriff’s office, people at the home tried to transport Kyra to the hospital but stopped at a gas station, where they were met by EMTs and sheriff’s deputies. Kyra was taken to a hospital where she was confirmed dead of her injuries.
“It’s so sad … because the mother’s losing two kids at one time,” Pounds said, telling reporters the boy had been making weapons from “start to finish.”
“He’s selling those weapons on the streets of Douglas County, Carroll County, Atlanta — everywhere,” the sheriff said.
Investigators are still searching for the third person involved, Pounds said, and the shooting remains under investigation.
The use of ghost guns -self-assembled firearms that are often made with parts sold online and do not have serial numbers has been on the rise in some cities in the US.
Authorities did not detail exactly how Kyra Scott’s brother was making homemade firearms or how long he’d been selling them.
The case continues .