A 16-year-old Miami boy faces multiple charges after he shot his younger stepbrother during an argument over clothing, according to reports.
The alleged incident unfolded Tuesday afternoon inside the brothers’ home in the Wynwood neighborhood. Police said that the 13-year-old victim returned home from school to find his older stepbrother, Landon Lumpkin, wearing his clothes.
When the younger brother demanded that Lumpkin remove them, Lumpkin responded by pointing what he allegedly intended to be a scare-inducing gun at him. However, the weapon accidentally fired, sending a bullet into the 13-year-old’s left shoulder, according to a police report reviewed by Local 10.
Their mother heard the gunshot from her bedroom and rushed into the boys’ room to find her youngest son bleeding on the floor. She immediately took him to Jackson Memorial Hospital’s Ryder Trauma Center, where he remains in stable condition.
Lumpkin was taken to Miami Police Department headquarters and provided a statement, alongside his mother, the outlet reports.
Lumpkin now faces multiple charges, including aggravated battery with a firearm and possession of a firearm by a minor. He was also charged with grand theft of a firearm, as the .45-caliber Glock 21 used in the incident had been reported stolen in Miami.
The victim’s mother did not know that Lumpkin had a gun, Miami Police Officer Mike Vega said.
“Both parties say he didn’t intend to shoot his brother, but a gun does not go off by itself,” Vega said, per the outlet. “Someone has to press the trigger in order for the bullet to come out of that gun.”
Lumpkin appeared in a juvenile court Wednesday and is now set to be tried as an adult. His next hearing is scheduled for September 9.
