Tristen Paige Smith, 15 year old, Elsmere, Kentucky teen girl shot dead by her 15 year old boyfriend following dispute as police now seek to find gun teen claims dropping while fleeing scene.
A 15-year-old boy has been charged with murder after a shooting that left a 15-year-old girl dead in northern Kentucky Monday night.
While authorities declined to name either the suspect or victim, social media identified the victim as Tristen Paige Smith. The girl is initially thought to have been shot following a dispute with the teen boy.
The teen suspect has since been charged with who has been charged with murder (domestic violence) and tampering with physical evidence.
15 year old boy claims ‘dropping gun’ before returning to crime scene
According to the Elsmere Police Department, officers responded to the 3700 block of Autumn Road around 8:45 p.m. Monday for a report of a shooting.
Arriving officers found the teen girl suffering from gunshot wounds to her arm and chest inside the house. The teen was pronounced dead at the scene, Cincinnati.com reported.
The teen boy believed to have been responsible in the shooting had fled the scene, only to be arrested after returning to the crime scene later.
EPD says the teen boy is being charged in juvenile court, under Kentucky law. A decision about whether the case will be transferred to adult court will be made by prosecutors in the future.
Officers say the handgun used in the killing has not been recovered. The boy told officers he fled from the scene on foot and accidentally dropped the gun, WLWT reported.
‘It’s a lot of wooded areas around here, so that gun, it could possibly be anywhere,’ neighbor Donald Dodds told the outlet.
EPD is asking residents in the area to be on the lookout for the handgun. If found, residents are asked to call 911 immediately and to not touch the firearm.
Teen girl allegedly shot dead following dispute with her ‘boyfriend’
They also said not to touch the gun because they think it’s loaded, and they want to make sure DNA and fingerprint evidence remain intact.
‘This could have happened because of a disagreement, people get killed for that now,’ Dodds said. ‘To kill somebody, at 15 years old, that’s crazy, man.’
Not immediately clear is the dynamics between the two teenagers and whether they were intimately involved. Nevertheless a GoFundMe to help pay for Smith’s funeral expenses described the pair being ‘boyfriend and girlfriend.’
Those who knew Smith her described her as kind, genuine and still having a full life ahead of her, FOX19 reported.
‘She didn’t deserve this,’ Ariana Torrence, Smith’s grandmother told the outlet. ‘She was a beautiful, bright light in our lives. We’re going to miss her terrible. She loved everyone, cared about people. The homeless, pets.’
Family and friends have set up a GoFundMe to help pay for Smith’s funeral expenses.
This investigation remains very active.
Authorities declined to say what led up to the shooting as they try to understand how the teen boy was able to access the gun, which continues to remain unaccounted for.
