HAMPTON, Va. — Hampton police said they were investigating the killing of a 12-year-old girl whom someone shot in her bedroom. Court paperwork that investigators filed gives a better idea of what led officers to arrest a 16-year-old boy in connection to her killing.
Officers began their investigation on April 23 after they received a call about a shooting at a home on North Roger Peed Drive. Police said the caller told an emergency dispatcher that a girl had shot herself.
Officers found a 12-year-old girl in her bedroom with a gunshot wound to her head.
According to court documents, police also found a 16-year-old boy with blood on his shirt who was trying to leave the home. The boy told officers he was related to the girl who died.
The narrative provided in the court paperwork says the boy initially told officers he contacted the girl's ex-boyfriend who threatened him over the phone, saying he was going to shoot him. The 16-year-old then said when he walked out of the back door of the home, the ex-boyfriend was there and fired a gun at him. The teenager told officers he went back into the home and ran upstairs to the girl's bedroom. The boy said while he and the girl looked out of the bedroom window, the ex-boyfriend fired another shot which hit the girl.
Police said the boy's initial story would change.
Cameras at the home captured video and sound minutes before and after the shooting. Investigators said the footage shows the 16-year-old boy walking downstairs and out of the home around 11:20 a.m. A gunshot can be heard at some point, followed by what appears to be a girl screaming. A minute after that, the boy walks back into the house and can be heard talking to the girl.
At 11:25 a.m., the footage shows the boy leaving the girl's room and what appears to be a black and silver gun on the floor and a cartridge casing in the hallway. Police said neither the gun nor the casing was there when officers showed up at the home minutes later.
The court documents say despite his original account, the 16-year-old boy said he had fired a shot at the ex-boyfriend. The paperwork also says he admitted to picking up the gun and casing that was in the security footage and the he told investigators he threw the gun out of the window and called a friend to come get it.
The Hampton Police Division said the 16-year-old faces the following charges:
- Homicide
- Use of a Firearm in the Commission of a Felony
- Possession of a Firearm by a Juvenile,
- Obstruction of Justice
- Providing False Information to Police