by Staff writer
A Georgia teen was live-streaming a video on Instagram Monday evening when he accidentally shot himself.
Malachi Hemphill, 13, was rushed to Gracy Memorial Hospital in Atlanta, Georgia, where he was pronounced dead, news station WXIA reported.
His mom Shaniqua Stephens was home when her son fatally shot himself while handling the gun in his bedroom in Forest Park, Georgia. She said he had been trying to put a clip in the gun.
“I heard a big boom. I couldn’t tell if it was a gun shot or what,” Stephens said.
Stephens said had just watched her son take out the trash moments before he went into his bedroom to record the video on Instagram Live.
When Stephens heard the gun go off, she and her daughter ran upstairs to his bedroom, but the door was locked.
“We kicked in the door. We found him just laying there in a pool of blood,” Stephens said. “My daughter screamed and said, ‘Mom turn his phone off!’ As I proceeded to look at his phone he was on Instagram Live.”
She said that his friends who had been watching the live stream ran over to their home.
“There was about 40 to 50 kids outside,” she said. “I guess these were the kids that were watching on Live that live in the area. I guess when it happened they just ran over here.”
Forest Park police are investigating how Hemphill got a hold of the gun.
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