LITTLE ROCK, AR – Authorities in central Arkansas have identified a 14-year-old boy who died after he and another teenager were playing with a gun that accidentally went off.
Little Rock police spokesman Lt. Terry Hastings says someone at the home found TyJuan Woodard’s body shortly before 2 a.m. Thursday at 4600 Grand Ave and called authorities.
Hastings says the other boy – a 13-year-old whose name is not being released – had covered his friend’s body with a blanket after the shooting occurred Wednesday. He left at some point and spent the night elsewhere without telling anyone what happened.
Louise Nelson, 60, lives inside the home where the boy was discovered.
“I really don’t know how this happened,” she says. “I don’t even know what to think about what happened to him because I don’t know him. And I’m wondering how he got up in my house.”
Roger Mardis, father of the shooting victim told FOX16 News he wants to believe the shooting was an accident.
“It seems kind of fishy, it seems unbelievable,” Mardis says. “I’m trying to soak it in, but I’m going to miss my boy.”
Hastings says he wasn’t sure how the boys got hold of the gun, which belongs to one of the 13-year-old’s relatives.
No charges have been filed, but Hastings says the case will be forwarded to the prosecutor.