MIAMI (WSVN) - The Miami Police chief and Miami-Dade County Public Schools superintendent held a news conference outside of the Miami Police Department to speak about the importance of gun safety for teens Thursday.
“When is it going to stop?” Arya Gray’s uncle Sergio Rastelli asked.
The families of two teenagers are still mourning after they were tragically killed in two separate shootings just days from each other.
“This is a tragedy that should not happen and cannot happen again,” said Miami Police Chief Jorge Colina. “We had two young people lose their lives needlessly.”
“If we are successful at improving storage practices amongst gun owners, we could drastically reduce the amount of shootings and injuries that our juveniles sustain,” M-DCPS Police Chief Edwin Lopez said.
A 17-year-old girl was shot and killed by a friend in a rental home off Southwest 20th Street in Miami on Monday.
The arrest report states 17-year-old Michael McGowan admitted to accidentally shooting the victim.
7News spoke to neighbors who didn’t want to go on camera but said they heard screams and crying that night.
“Her life was cut short,” Rastelli said.
Just days before, on May 12, another family was left devastated.
The 15-year-old Gray was also killed by someone she knew at an apartment complex near Northeast 10th Avenue and 78th Street.
“Now, she can’t even graduate or go to prom or see her friends or kiss her mother or hug her uncle,” Rastelli said.
Police said the Miami Beach Senior High School freshman was accidentally shot by her friend, 17-year-old Thalys Olivera, who was allegedly mishandling the gun.
In Thursday’s news conference, officials made a plea to the public to educate students on the importance of gun safety.
“In the middle of this pandemic crisis, there is an ongoing crisis that continues to unfold itself in our community,” M-DCPS Superintendent Alberto Carvalho said.
Some of the families impacted are also calling for change.
“Every single day something out there will happen with teens [and] with guns if parents — if the educational system does not do something about it,” Rastelli said.
The suspects in both cases are being charged with manslaughter. One of them will be tried as an adult.
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