An 11-year-old Detroit boy has been charged with manslaughter and felony use of a firearm after fatally shooting a toddler in the face, authorities said.
A judge ordered the boy to undergo a mental competency exam Monday for last week's tragedy, which left 3-year-old Elijah Walker dead,
MLive.com reported.
Prosecutors said the older boy got a hold of the loaded weapon from his father's bedroom closet. After tossing it out a window, he carried it into a car parked in the backyard where he shot the boy who had tagged along inside of the vehicle.
"I cannot remember a time where we have charged someone so young with taking a life," Wayne County prosecutor Kym Worthy said, according to Mlive.com.
"Very unfortunately and very tragically, the alleged facts in this case demanded it," she added.
The older boy's mother defended her son to reporters Monday while calling the horrific Aug. 3 shooting an accident.
"My son's not a bad child like everybody say he is. He's a good child," Kwanna Luchie
told WDIV News before turning on his father when asked if he should be charged.
"He should get something, he shouldn't just walk away for free," she said. "If my son have to go through this, he should too."
WDIV News, citing unidentified sources, reported that the incident follows previous reports of gunfire at the boy's home over the last several weeks.
That reportedly includes incidents where police made contact with the 11-year-old regarding a gun.
The boy is being charged as a minor. If convicted of the charges, the maximum sentence would keep him locked up until he’s 21.
