OPA-LOCKA, FLA. (WSVN) - Police are investigating a shooting that left a 14-year-old girl dead in Opa-Locka, and the teen’s mother said her 19-year-old son pulled the trigger.
According to Miami-Dade Police, the 14-year-old victim was shot inside her home at the Mirage at Sailboat community, at around 3 a.m., Thursday.
Speaking with 7News hours later, the children’s mother, who was not identified, said the shooting was not intentional.
“Just an accident, and I had no idea there was a gun in my house,” she said.
The children’s mother said her son, later identified as 19-year-old Keon Thornhill, was visiting the home in the middle of the night.
“My son, he doesn’t even live here; he just came,” she said. “My son was showing off with a gun, the gun went off and shot my daughter in the head.”
Family members identified the victim as Brianna. They did not provide a last name.
Shortly after the shooting, police said, Thornhill ran to nearby homes asking for help. One of the houses he knocked on was an Opa-Locka Police officer.
“That officer immediately drove his vehicle over to that house to assist them, and that’s when he discovered ,the 14-year-old victim that was suffering from an apparent gunshot wound,” said MDPD detective Alvaro Zabaleta.
Investigators said six siblings were inside the home at the time of the shooting while their mother was at work. Aside from Thornhill, no adults were home.
Early Thursday afternoon, family members could be seen consoling each other outside the home.
“The community is saddened because of the fact that we lost a 14-year-old, a 14-year-old that should have been going to school today,” said Zabaleta. “We’re providing victim advocates from our Homicide Bureau to the family, to the siblings that were there. These are children that – clearly, this is going to affect them.”
Zabaleta also said parents need to make sure their children are aware of the dangers guns pose, especially inside their own homes.
“That’s why we want parents to stress upon their children, to stress upon to their teenagers, that guns can be very dangerous,” he said. “It’s a constitutional right. However, we need to be responsible on how you handle firearms, and if there is a gun in the house, to make sure that it’s secured and out of reach of children.”
Thornhill has been arrested and booked into the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center. He faces a charge of second-degree murder with a weapon.
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