Bronx teen fatally shot in apparent gun-handling incident; another 16-year-old being questioned
MORRISANIA, Bronx (WABC) -- A 16-year-old boy was shot and killed inside a Bronx apartment early Monday morning -- and police are questioning another teen who ran away after the shooting.
It happened just after 5:10 a.m. inside a home at 1346 Prospect Avenue in the Morrisania section of the Bronx.
The victim, later identified as John Nunez, suffered a gunshot wound to the head and was pronounced dead at the scene.
Police were looking for a 16-year-old boy who ran from the apartment following the shooting. He was picked up later Monday afternoon and will be questioned.
Detectives believe the teenagers may have been handling a firearm when it discharged, though the circumstances surrounding the shooting remain under investigation.
"I can't believe this, but I have to stay strong, my mother is destroyed, my family is destroyed," said the victim's sister, Sol Nunez.
She said John was her little brother, but was still her protector, and she called him her other half.
While investigators work to determine the circumstances of the shooting, the family is not sure what to believe.
"They say it was an accident, but you know, teenagers these days, a lot of things could happen," Nunez said. "We don't know the full story yet, so we're still waiting on that."
People who knew both teens said they had been friends and had known each other a long time.
Sol Nunez hopes her brother's tragic story will be a warning to other Bronx teenagers to think twice before pickup up a gun.
"I hope this is just a message for those out there that the gun violence, it's not OK," she said.
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