In a tragic incident in Aberdeen, Mississipi this Sunday, a young girl was (allegedly) shot in the head and killed over possession of a video game controller. Allegedly, her brother shot her because she would not hand the controller over to him when he asked for it.
According to a report by WCBI-TV and the Monroe County Sheriff Cecil Cantrell, the girl has passed away last night. The 13-year old was shot in the back of the head by her 9-year old brother and consequently rushed to Le Bonheur’s Children’s Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee.
Authorities say they don’t yet know how the boy got his hands on a loaded gun, nor how it was possible that no adult noticed what was going on until it was too late. The two children had been involved in a row over giving up the video game controller.
When the girl – named Dijonae White in US media reports – refused to relinquish it, the tragedy unfolded. Sheriff Cantrell has stated that the county has never before had to deal with a shooting where both the victim and the shooter were that young, and that they could not conclusively say whether or not the boy was aware of the consequences of his actions. The bullet went into the brain of the older sister, causing irreparable damage that claimed her life late last night.
He further stated that: “We don’t know yet what kind of charges or if charges will be pressed. We want to make sure we’re doing everything correctly.
“That’s why I’m not too fast to say anything because there are juveniles involved. We want to do what’s right and we’re going to get it right.” The Sheriff’s department is working and talking to the District Attorney’s Office about how to procede, as the legal situation is somewhat unclear due to the incredibly young age of both parties involved.
Not too much information has been made available on the incident, however it is known that a .25 calibre handgun was used in the tragic incident, and that the mother was in another room feeding other children. The origin of the gun is as of yet unclear – it isn’t known whether it was the parent’s gun, stolen, or how exactly it came to be in the hands of the boy.
This incident is likely going to be used as fuel by various political parties and figures that like to demonise video games as violence-inducing and socially damaging, despite multiple studies having found no correlation.
Although no further information is known at the moment, it can be assumed that this is another example of this – improper supervision and tragic coincidence are at fault, as this could well have happened over many other dispute topics.
The mother of the children has not yet made a public statement, nor any of the other people involved in the investigation and/or process.