A 9-year-old boy has killed his 13-year-old sister following an argument over a video game controller, Mississipi police have said. The tragic incident took place in Monroe County on Saturday afternoon, with the teenage girl being pronounced dead on Sunday at 6:45 pm.
It is unclear how the boy obtained the gun, though Sheriff Cecil Cantrell stated that the motive behind the incident stemmed from the girl refusing to give her brother a video game controller. The boy responded by shooting her in the back of the head, with the bullet traveling through her brain. The child was taken to Le Bonheur’s Children’s Hospital in Memphis, though later died as a result of her injuries.
“He’s just 9. I assume he’s seen this on video games or TV,” Sheriff Cantrell told the Clarion Ledger. “I don’t know if he knew exactly what this would do. I can’t answer that. I do know it’s a tragedy.”
Cantrell also added that the incident was “new ground” for them, adding that he didn’t know what charges could or should be applied to a 9-year-old.
“We want to make sure we’re doing everything correctly,” he said. “That’s why I’m not too fast to say anything because there are juveniles involved. We want to do what’s right and we’re going to get it right.”
The Sheriff also noted that it was unclear how much the child knew about the dangers of guns and that the identities of the family members would not be released to the public.
This tragic news comes after the recent push from the Trump administration to associate video game violence with real-life gun violence. President Donald Trump recently met with a variety of gaming industry executives, in which a reel of clips from violent games was shown. The gaming industry has refuted the claims that video games lead to violence in the real world.
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