KANSAS CITY (AP) — A 19-year-old has been charged with fatally shooting his 15-year-old friend with a pink gun while playing with it at a Kansas City-area home, according to court records.
Elijah Soliz was charged Friday with first-degree involuntary manslaughter and armed criminal action in the Dec. 11 shooting in Independence. No attorney is listed for him in online court records.
A police detective wrote in the probable cause statement that Soliz described the shooting as accidental. He told an officer at the scene that he was just holding the gun and it went off. During a later interview, he said he dropped it and that it went off when he caught it. He also admitted to smoking marijuana, the probable cause statement said.
Several days later, the mother of a witness reached out to police. The witness said that someone else racked the slide of the pistol, putting a round in the chamber, before handing it to Soliz, the probable cause statement said.
The witness said Soliz had the pistol pointed at the victim’s head for 30 to 45 seconds before it slipped and fired. The witness said he wasn't sure if Soliz knew that there was a bullet in the chamber and that he didn't believe the shooting was intentional.
The 15-year-old was struck in the head and was pronounced dead at a hospital.