Boy used his father’s gun to murder his neighbor.Â
By Raif Karerat
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In yet another saddening instance of gun violence in the United States, police say an 11-year-old Tennessee boy used his father’s 12-gauge shotgun to “intentionally†shoot an 8-year-old girl in the chest on Saturday, killing her.
The unidentified boy has been charged with first-degree murder, reported local news outlets.
According to her mother, McKayla Dyer, 8, was found lying on the ground with a gunshot wound to her chest. She was taken to Morristown-Hamblen hospital, where she later died, according to ABC affiliate WATE.
“It’s a sad situation,†Jefferson County Sheriff G.W. “Bud†McCoig told the Knoxville News Sentinel. “It’s always a sad situation with any death. But it hurts when it’s children.â€
Latasha Dyer said her daughter was outside playing when her next door neighbor, an 11-year-old boy, asked to see her puppy. She said her daughter told the boy “no†and shortly after the 11-year-old boy shot her.
McKayla’s mother also stated the boy had bullied her in the past.
“When we first moved to White Pine, the little boy was bullying McKayla,†Latasha Dyer told WATE. “He was making fun of her, calling her names, just being mean to her. I had to go to the principal about him, and he quit for a while. And then, all of a sudden, yesterday he shot her.â€
Dyer said her family is utterly devastated and heartbroken.
“I want her back in my arms. This is not fair. Hold and kiss your babies every night because you’re never promised the next day with them,” she lamented. “I hope the little boy learned his lesson, because he took my baby’s life and I can’t get her back.â€