HAMPTON, Va. - Hampton Police are now investigating the shooting death of a 12-year-old girl as a homicide. The suspect is a 16-year-old boy, who is her brother.
Court documents now reveal what apparently led to the girl’s death.
The details surrounding the homicide inside a Hampton home on North Roger Peed Drive Saturday morning are conflicting.
Court documents say police first got a call about a female shooting herself in the head.
Lamarr Herndon, a father of three who lives across the street, saw the police cars rushing to the scene.
“One police car flew by, and I stopped, and I walked,” he said. “And it’s like six, seven, coming, coming, coming.”
When police got to the townhome, they found the girl’s body upstairs.
Police say a 16-year-old boy, who said he was the victim’s brother, was wearing a blood-spattered shirt and attempted to leave the scene.
Paperwork shows the teen had a panic attack as he was detained.
Identified as “DLC” in court documents, the boy later admitted to having a handgun.
Before the shooting, DLC says he called a person known as “Junior,” who used to date his sister. He claims Junior shot at him, causing him to run inside the home into his sister’s room, where he says Junior fired another shot, hitting and ultimately killing the 12-year-old.
Police say DLC later changed his story, saying it was he who fired a shot at Junior and then went inside.
Court documents say the home has surveillance cameras showing the 16-year-old boy walking outside. Then, a single shot is fired, followed by a scream from a female.
Police say DLC then casually walks back in the house and is heard over the security camera, talking to his sister.
Police found a bullet casing outside the girl’s bedroom door.
DLC then admitted to throwing the gun out the window just before police were called about the apparent suicide.
The 12-year-old died just a few minutes later.
“It’s sad; it’s sad,” Herndon said. “She had her whole life to live.”
Neighbor Keosha Flythe, who’s a mother of four, says the little girl used to play with her kids. She says she was home at the time of the shooting.
“[There was] somebody screaming, ‘She shot herself.’ She was at my house the day before, sitting here at the end of my driveway. I was talking to her the day before,” Flythe told us.
As Flythe remembers the little girl, she says her children are torn up over her death.
“She was happy; very friendly,” she said. “She was out here every day with the kids. It’s sad. You really don’t know the circumstances behind it all, but a 12-year-old losing her life, it really impacted all the kids out here.”
Flight said the girl’s parents weren’t home at the time of the shooting. It’s unknown if any other adult was there.
Herndon is relying on his faith for the gun violence to stop.
“All we can do is pray,” he said. “Pray for the family. Hope everybody is OK."
Kellie Goral with Hampton City Public Schools said the 12-year-old girl was a HCS student, and said that school counselors, mental health counselors and school social workers are on-site at the girl's school to provide support to students and staff.
Goral said that out of respect for the victim's family, they are not releasing her name or the name of the school she attended.
The teenage suspect is charged with homicide and for lying to police, among other charges. He’s already in custody on unrelated charges out of Norfolk.
