Georgia teenager by chance killed sister with “ghost gun”

A 13-year-old boy from Georgia accidentally shot and killed his 14-year-old sister when he shot two people who bought one of his homemade firearms but stole one instead, officials said.

The boy made “ghost rifles” – undetectable firearms from parts that anyone can legally buy online – and sold them from his home in Douglasville, about 20 miles west of Atlanta, CNN reported.

Two people showed up to buy one of his creations on Saturday but ran away with the gun instead, Douglas County Sheriff Tim Pounds told reporters.

The young gun manufacturer opened fire on the couple with one of its “ghost rifles,” which authorities believe to prevent the theft, but accidentally hit his older sister, Kyra Scott, officials said.

The boy admitted the shooting and was charged with the crime, according to the sheriff’s office.

Yusef Jabryil McArthur El, 19, one of the two would-be buyers, was also arrested and charged with robbery and murder, according to CNN.

The boy admitted to shooting his sister Kyra and was charged with the crime, the sheriff’s office said.Family handout

Residents of the home tried to take Kyra to a hospital but stopped at a gas station where police and medical staff picked them up. She was then taken to the medical center where she was pronounced dead.

“It’s so sad … because the mother loses two children at the same time,” said Pounds. “(The boy was) selling these guns on the streets of Douglas County, Carroll County, Atlanta – everywhere.”

Meanwhile, the police are still looking for the third suspect in the tragic case.

A GoFundMe account set up by another sibling to raise funds for Kyra’s funeral describes her as “the nicest little girl you have ever met. … She had the biggest heart and always wanted to be close to her family. “

Georgia teenager by chance killed sister with “ghost gun”Prosecutor Dalia Racine called Kyra Scott’s “senseless” death a “tragedy of epic proportions.”Family handout

Kyra was a student at Chapel Hill High School, where grief counselors were deployed to help students and staff, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.

On Wednesday, District Attorney Dalia Racine said her department would review the sheriff’s investigation as soon as it is closed.

“The death of Kyra Scott is a tragedy of epic proportions. It is an unspeakable loss for her family, “said Racine, the newspaper reported.

Kyra ScottKyra Scott was pronounced dead in the hospital.Family handout

“This loss is utterly pointless, and many struggle to understand how something like this could happen. We in Douglas County are a healing community. Our village failed to protect our youth, ”she said.

“Kyra Scott was apparently a lovely and kind soul, and nothing done in this case will bring her back,” she added. “The cost of losing our children is just too high and we have to do better. And we as a community will do better. “

Lt. Jon Mauney said additional charges are possible as investigators hope to find out how many guns the 13-year-old made and whether others in the house knew about them, according to the Journal Constitution.

The use of ghost weapons has increased in some major cities, according to CNN.

Between 2016 and 2020, more than 23,000 such firearms are said to have been seized by law enforcement agencies, the Justice Ministry said in May.

The sheriff’s office said “ghost weapons” are particularly troubling to law enforcement because they have no serial numbers and cannot be traced.

Page Pate, a legal analyst for 11Alive, said it was a federal crime to scrape a serial number off a weapon – but “ghost weapons” provide a loophole because they are sold as parts and have no numbers.

“Federal law states that the part for a firearm is not a firearm, and federal law only regulates firearms,” ​​said Pate, an Atlanta criminal defense attorney. “Well, there is an exception if it’s an automatic weapon, part of the machine gun is still a machine gun, but with a normal firearm, a semi-automatic firearm, part of the gun is not.”

He added, “I think a lot of parents would be surprised to learn that their children can go online and buy the parts of a gun that they can then make themselves. I mean, I think we’d take number one, that has to be illegal. Well, it isn’t, or two, it must be very difficult to make a weapon. It is not, no more. “