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15-year-old boy to be charged with manslaughter in fatal shooting of 12-year-old at Oak Park home

Posted at 2:23 PM, Sep 15, 2020
and last updated 2020-09-16 18:39:58-04

OAK PARK, Mich. (WXYZ) — A 15-year-old boy is expected to be charged in the fatal shooting of a 12-year-old boy in Oak Park.

Police investigating after 12-year-old boy shot, killed in Oak Park

He will be charged as a juvenile with manslaughter.

The 12-year-old, identified as LaDamien Williams, was at the Oak Park home with his brother so that they could visit with their father's girlfriend's children and do school work.

Oak Park police detectives "determined that there was gunplay amongst juveniles within the residence that resulted in this shooting," said Oak Park Police Lt. Troy Taylor in a statement.

We're told LaDamien was not one of those who had been playing with the weapon.

A 15-year-old boy, not LaDamien's brother, was horsing around with the gun when he fired the fatal round that struck LaDamien in the head.

"Teach your kids about gun safety. Not knowing is the worst thing in the world," said LaVez, who also wants everyone to know that LaDamien was such a good kid with so much personality that everyone would've gotten to know him had his life not ended tragically.

"I messed up," LaVez Williams, LaDamien's father, said.

LaVez said he told his sons to stay away from firearms in their home but he didn't know there was a gun in his girlfriend's house.

Oak Park police said the semi-automatic handgun is legally owned and registered to an occupant of the house.

LaVez called the deadly shooting a tragic accident and said that his girlfriend's 15-year-old son is the one who has been detained in the shooting.

"Kids being curious," he said. "These two kids are the closest when they're around each other. And it's so sad that we're both going to lose a child in this."

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