Fatal shooting of Bronx teen appears accidental; Suspect charged

BRONX, New York (WABC) -- The shooting death of a 17-year-old boy in the Bronx Thursday is being investigated as accidental, and the man believed to have fired the deadly shot was arrested on Friday.

Police say Ackeem Davis was shot to death while in his apartment on Astor Avenue in the Allerton section around 5 p.m., and that friends were "play fighting" and wrestling while a gun was nearby. The weapon accidentally went off, police said, believing that some of those in the room did not know that gun was loaded.

Steafon Lewis, 19, was taken into custody and charged with manslaughter and criminal possession of a firearm.

Three men and a woman who were in the room at the time of the shooting room were being interviewed, and police are looking for additional people who were in the apartment at the time and left after the shooting. The weapon has still not been recovered.

Sources told Eyewitness News that there were videos posted online using Facebook Live before the shooting, showing the victim and other people in the room. It appears to have been taken at least a half hour before the shooting and shows the teens hanging out, smoking and listening to music in an apartment. Police believe one of the visitors brought the gun.

Friends and family gathered in front of a series of candles put in front of the building, leaving messages as part of a growing memorial.

Davis' friends say he was a nice guy with big plans, and the last person anyone would want to hurt. He would've turned 18 next week and was set to graduate high school next month before joining the Army.

He was known among friends and neighbors for being humble and having a contagious sense of humor.

"Very polite boy," neighbor Nancy Gonzales said. "Very sweet kid. He would say good morning, good afternoon, good evening. He would hold the door for you. If he saw you with a package, he would assist you with it."

The investigation is ongoing, as detectives try to figure out exactly how he ended up with a gunshot wound to the chest. He stumbled into the hallway and collapsed, and he was pronounced dead at Jacobi Hospital.

"He was nice, well-known kid," family friend Rachel Williams said. "Very good, not a trouble-maker. He didn't deserve that."

Neighbors say his mother is a postal worker who made sure her son stayed out of trouble.

"His mother is a very hard worker," Gonzalez said. "I even cried a couple of tears, because he's my neighbor."