A tragic chain reaction of events led to the accidental shooting death of an 11-year-old Allentown boy, killed with a gun by his 10-year-old brother, the Lehigh Valley District Attorney's office said Wednesday.
On Tuesday evening, a 24-year-old man was in the basement of his home on the 600 block of North Front Street in Allentown, where he was preparing to clean two 9mm handguns that he legally owned, police said.
The two boys, their parents, and an older brother unexpectedly stopped in to visit, and the 24-year-old -- who is the boys' cousin -- rushed to conceal the guns, which were out of their lock box, police said.
"When he heard the boys arrive upstairs, he attempted to quickly hide the guns, with the expectation that the boys might be coming down into the basement to play video games, as they did sometimes when they visited," DA Jim Martin said in a statement.
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That was indeed the case, the statement continues, and when the 24-year-old went upstairs to see the rest of the house guests, the boys remained downstairs. Police say that a gunshot was heard shortly after, and that it had severely injured the 11-year-old boy, who later died.
The District Attorney announced that no charges will be filed in the case against either the 24-year-old or the 10-year old.
"While a case can be made that the guns should have been placed into a lock box which was available, the investigation has disclosed that the owner did not want the boys to even see the guns and he made a good faith effort to hurriedly hide them," the DA says.
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An autopsy is scheduled for Friday.
