A father was arrested and charged with murder after his 8-year-old son shot his 6-year-old brother to death with a gun found on the floor of a bedroom in their Stone Mountain home, Georgia.
D’onte Patterson, aged 29, was charged with murder, cruelty to children, possession of marijuana and possession of methamphetamine, according to a Daily Mail report.
It is added that the father took his youngest son, V’Onte, to the hospital, but the shot in the mouth was fatal. He was pronounced dead at the hospital.
The report indicates that the brother would have fired an AR-15, and although the Police indicate that it was possibly an accident, the father was accused of homicide.
According to the first reports, the weapon used was allegedly on the floor, next to the bed in a room on the second floor, when the 8-year-old boy found it and shot his brother.
The father confirmed the gun was his and that the children found it on the bedroom floor, police said, according to the Mail report.
The investigation is still ongoing, which includes questioning all the inhabitants of the house, where seven children and four adults live, it was indicated.
The neighbor, Annette Barber, 62 years old, who has lived in the neighborhood for over 20 years, told the Daily Mail that she knew the family and regretted the events.
“It is heartbreaking and my heart goes out to the family,” said Barber, who added that the family had been living in that house for a year.