A 12-year-old boy has been charged with manslaughter in the tragic death of his 14-year-old cousin in Brooklyn, authorities and sources said Monday. The boy reportedly told police in a heartbreaking tale, “I accidentally shot my cousin. I didn’t want him to die.”
Police said the early teen, whose identity is not being released because he is a minor, is also charged with manslaughter and unlawful possession of a weapon in the shooting death of juvenile Jasai Guy at a Brownsville housing complex on Sunday morning.
According to police sources, when officers responded to a 911 call at Howard House, the boy told officers, “I accidentally shot my cousin and I don’t want him to die.”
source He told AMNY The cousins had been playing together while their grandfather slept in the next room when gunfire rang out in their fifth-floor room on Osborne Street at about 10.30am.
Police recovered a shotgun that investigators believe belonged to Jasai’s father, a New York City Fire Department firefighter who was on vacation at the time of the shooting, a police source told The Post.
Jasai, who was shot in the chest, was rushed to Brookdale University Hospital and Medical Center but did not survive.
Officials said the shooting appears to have been accidental, and police are investigating how the children obtained the weapons and whether they were obtained legally.
Neighbors said Jasai lived in an apartment with his father and grandparents and was a popular teenager who loved basketball and stayed out of trouble.
“He was always here playing (basketball),” said Mudil Jeter, 40, who said he knew Jasay “since he was a baby,” describing him as smart and a “good kid.”
Jeter said he had never met Jasai’s cousin and thought the boy in his early teens was “just hanging out for the weekend.”
“It’s a tragedy. I knew his father very well,” Jeter said. “His father was a cool guy, a party promoter, and then he became a firefighter.”
Jeter said Jasai attended school and was not involved with gangs.
“I don’t know what happened inside the apartment, but the gun should have been kept locked and stored,” he said.
“Don’t they teach you not to play with guns at school? Surely a 12-year-old would know better? I think it’s curiosity,” he said.
“Everyone’s talking about it. It’s a real tragedy,” the neighbour added. “He was a good kid, that’s why it’s such a shock.”
