A teenage boy has accidentally shot and killed himself while livestreaming a video on Instagram.
Thirteen-year-old Malachi Hemphill was at home in Forest Hill, Georgia. His mum, Shaniqua Stephens and sister were in the house with him when he accidentally shot himself.
Shaniqua heard a loud and unexpected noise and discovered her son's body in his bedroom.
"I heard a big boom. I couldn't tell if it was a gun shot or what," she told WXIA.
She and her daughter ran to Malachi's bedroom but the door locked. "We kicked in the door," she said.
Credit: YouTube/11Alive
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"We found him just laying there in a pool of blood.
"My daughter screamed and said, 'Mom turn his phone off!'. As I proceeded to look at his phone, he was on Instagram Live."
She told the station that a number of his friends had witnessed the shocking incident via the livestream.
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As they waited for the ambulance, several of Malachi's friends ran over to the house.
"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."
Credit: YouTube/11Alive
"This is just a pain that will never go away," she added. "He was my only son. He was just only 13. Just the thought of me seeing him on the floor will never leave my brain."
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She also told the station that it was a terrible accident, and not a suicide.
His mum has since been told that someone asked the boy why
the gun didn't have a clip in and told him to put one in. "As he put the clip in the gun, that is when
the gun went off," she said.
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Malichi's step father, Ernest Stephens, said: "It can happen to the best parents...it can happen to the best people. The best ones that loved their kids, you know?"
He was rushed to hospital but was later pronounced dead. Police in Forest Hill, Georgia are now investigating how the teen managed to get hold of a gun.
Source: Telegraph and 11 Alive
Featured Image Credit: 11Alive