LAS VEGAS (KLAS) – Friends “playing around” with a loaded gun they believed to be unloaded led to the shooting death of a teen in the northwest Las Vegas valley, police said.
Just after 7 p.m. on Wednesday, officers from the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department responded to a report of an accidental shooting in the 7100 block of Bramble Court near Alta and Buffalo drives. When officers arrived, they found two young men who told them that their friend had been shot at a house west of that location.
Officers found the teen who had been shot in an upstairs loft area of the house. He was taken to an area hospital, where he died.
Jason Johansson, homicide lieutenant at LVMPD, called the situation “tragic,” detailing that the group of friends were in a room “messing around with a loaded firearm” that they believed to be unloaded. While they were playing with the gun, it went off, shooting one of the friends.
The shooter was in custody, police said, and he is expected to be booked in the shooting.
Interviews were still being conducted Wednesday evening, and all parties were being cooperative with the investigation. Residents in the area were being escorted to their homes Wednesday evening.
