An accidental shooting in Georgia on New Year's Eve left two teenagers dead, police officers said.
Investigators said that a group of teenage boys, between the ages of 15 and 19, were playing with a gun in a wooden house or shed in Lawrenceville in Gwinnett County around 3:15 p.m.
One teenage boy accidentally shot another, investigators said. The others fled the scene. The boy who shot his friend then committed suicide.
In the statement, the police said it appeared that Hodges left the shed before killing himself.
"Detectives have learned the identities of the two males as well as more details into how the incidents unfolded. After multiple interviews from witnesses, detectives learned one of the males, Hodges, was showing the group a hand gun when he accidentally fired a shot," the police said in the statement.
"The shot struck his friend, Carless, sitting next to him in the cramped shed. Carless succumbed to his injuries before help could arrive. As officers were arriving on scene, Hodges was seen running between two homes where he then took his own life with the handgun," the statement continued.
Police officials haven't said who owns the gun or how the teens obtained it. It was described as a handgun.
Neighbors said that the shooting was devastating.
"Are they children of our community where we can reach out to their families? So this was just really unexpected. Nothing like this ever (happened) in this neighborhood," one neighbor said, not identifying herself.
Another neighbor said that none of the teens had any connection to the neighborhood.
Andrew Tran, another area resident, said he used to play in the same shed where the shooting happened. “I was shocked because just thinking about it, it could have been my friends,” he said.
