SandyMaloneAberdeen, MS – A nine-year-old Monroe County boy fatally shot his older sister in a dispute over a video game controller on Saturday.
Dijonae White, 13, wouldn’t give up the video remote so he got a gun, according to WTVA.
Monroe County Sheriff Cecil Cantrell said White’s brother shot his older sister in the back of the head with a .25 caliber handgun, according to the Clarion Ledger.
Sheriff Cantrell said the bullet went through the 13-year-old girl’s brain.
She was rushed to Le Bonheur’s Children’s Hospital in Memphis but doctors were not able to save her. The girl died at about 6:45 p.m. on Sunday, the Clarion Ledger reported.
Authorities have said they do not know how the little brother got his hands on the gun he used to shoot his sister, KTAR reported.
Their mother was in another room feeding additional children at the time of the shooting, WTVA reported.
Police said they’re not sure the boy knew the ramifications of shooting a weapon.
“He’s just 9. I assume he’s seen this on video games or TV,” Sheriff Cantrell said. “I don’t know if he knew exactly what this would do. I can’t answer that. I do know it’s a tragedy.”
The sheriff said his department would take their time with the investigation, and wouldn’t say whether the little boy was still in custody.
“This is all new ground for us, we’ve never dealt with a kid shooting a kid at age 9,” Sheriff Cantrell told the Clarion Ledger. “We don’t know yet what kind of charges or if charges will be pressed. We want to make sure we’re doing everything correctly.
“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,” Sheriff Cantrell said.
White was a student at Tupelo Middle School, WTVA reported.
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