PEORIA (25News Now) – A 15-year-old boy will remain in the Juvenile Detention Center in connection with a shooting that injured another 15-year-old, according to the Peoria County State’s Attorney’s Office.
Prosecutors said the teen is charged with reckless discharge of a firearm.
Just before 5 p.m. on Halloween, Peoria police were called for a shooting on East La Salle Street near North Indiana Avenue, finding a 15-year-old inside a home, shot in the head.
The victim is still in the hospital, stable but critical, the state’s attorney’s office said.
A resident told investigators he was downstairs while several of his brother’s friends were in his brother’s upstairs bedroom. The state’s attorney’s office said his brother was not home.
The resident reported hearing a loud noise and saw two people run out of the house. He went upstairs and found the victim unresponsive and bleeding.
Police identified the 15-year-old suspect and went to his home, where they found him distraught, according to the state’s attorney’s office. Prosecutors said he admitted to the shooting but told investigators it was an accident.
During an interview, the teen said the group had been playing with firearms, as they often did, according to prosecutors. They claim the teen picked up a gun he believed was unloaded, waved it around, pointed it toward the victim and pulled the trigger.
The teen fled the home with one of the other friends, who allegedly took several firearms. The teen reportedly threw the gun into a nearby trash can where police later recovered it.
Police found a fired shell casing and nine magazines in the bedroom where the shooting took place, the state’s attorney’s office said. Some of the magazines were loaded.
The investigation is ongoing.
