11-year-old Edmond, Oklahoma girl arrested shooting 15-year-old brother dead as Oklahoma law forbids child under 13 from being prosecuted as an adult in felony cases.
An 11-year-old Oklahoma girl has been arrested for allegedly shooting 15-year-old brother dead.
The girl’s arrest follows the sibling calling her mother to say ‘someone’ had shot the boy inside their Edmond, Oklahoma home.
The mother was away from the family home when her daughter called to ‘report’ the shooting on Wednesday afternoon, KFOR reported.
Responding officers identify 15-year-old boy’s 11-year-old sister as shooter
Responding officers arriving at the home just on 4 p.m found the teen boy dead from an apparent gunshot wound.
‘They located a male juvenile inside, 15 years old, who was deceased from an apparent gunshot wound,’ Edmond Police Department spokesperson Emily Ward told KOCO.
The boy is reported to have been found shot in the head.
The boy’s sister was thought to have been the only other person inside the house at the time of the deadly shooting.
‘We believe that she was the only other individual in the house at that time,’ Ward told KFOR.
Shooting leaves neighbors stunned
Hours later, just on 1am on Thursday, police arrested the 11-year-old girl on a complaint of second-degree murder. Following her arrest the girl was taken to to a juvenile detention facility according to a Facebook release shared by the Edmond Police Department.
‘We recognize this is a heartbreaking situation for the family involved,’ Edmond police said. ‘Our thoughts are with them as they grieve this tragedy.’
The slaying left neighbors stunned, who said they had seen the brother and sister together and believed they shared a close relationship.
One neighbor, a mother who said she often saw the girl walking home from the bus, described her as sweet, News9 reported.
Police have yet to reveal what they believe happened leading up to the fatal shooting.
The children’s names have not been released because of their ages.
Oklahoma law forbids child under 13 from being prosecuted as an adult
The District Attorney’s Office, in a post on social media, said Oklahoma state law limits what information can be shared about the case due to the ages of the suspect and reported victim.
Oklahoma attorney Ed Blau speaking about the case, told KOCO that state law prevents an 11-year-old accused of a felony from being prosecuted as an adult.
‘In the state of Oklahoma, when someone is under the age of 13, they cannot be charged as an adult with a felony, especially murder or murder in the second degree,’ Blau said.
Instead, the allegations will be dealt with through the juvenile court system.
‘This case will not move through the same court system as an adult murder case,’ Blau explained. ‘Because the suspect is 11, the case will be handled in juvenile court.’
Oklahoma’s juvenile laws also place restrictions on detaining children aged 12 and younger.
‘She can be held up until she’s 19 years of age because of the seriousness of the crime,’ he said. ‘She will likely be in custody for a decent portion of the rehabilitation process.’
Many questions remain unanswered including what happened between the siblings before the gun went off, who owned the gun and how did it end up in the hands of a child.
If it’s found that the adults are responsible for looking after the children and how they accessed a weapon, the parents could face potential culpability.
‘In this particular case, I know the prosecution is going to take a close look at their parents to see if or how much negligence was involved in their kids being able to get access to their guns,’ Ed Blau said.
Frazzled neighbors also commented on the questioning of how the girl was able to obtain access to the gun.
‘The gun issue needs to be addressed and in one way or another, I mean, we need to keep our kids safe and more and more we hear about this. You know, it’s always just a kid has access to a weapon,’ said neighbor, Richard New, speaking to KFOR.
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