According to police, a 12-year-old boy in Philadelphia was killed by one of the older teenagers while filming a music video with guns.
Footage from the music video “is one of the key pieces of information that [authorities] are in possession of,” according to Philadelphia Police Inspector D.F. Pace, who spoke to Fox affiliate WTXF and other local outlets at a press briefing Sunday about the alleged murder of Ethan Parker, who was killed at a home on the 1500 block of East Pastorius Street on Saturday around 12:30 p.m., according to cops.
According to Pace, Parker was shot once with a handgun and rushed to a nearby hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
“Based on what we know so far … it appears that the decedent, the 12-year-old, was with two additional teenagers, ages 15 and 17, when they may have been in the process of producing some sort of a music video,” Pace told the press.
“There were some guns present, and one of them went off, shooting the 12-year-old, ultimately killing him,” according to the witness.
On Sunday, police charged the 17-year-old with third-degree murder, involuntary manslaughter, and other offenses in connection with Parker’s death.
The incident left neighbors shaken, with one woman telling WTXF: “Shooting a video and playing with guns in the middle of the day should not have happened. That is extremely shocking. I am at a loss for words right now.
Before announcing the charges against the teen, Pace told reporters that they were reviewing the music video they had filmed as evidence.
“However, there needs to be — legally — warrants secured with respect to accessing that information,” he told me. “We do believe that those phones or any other recording equipment may provide some very, very valuable information that will help us understand what exactly occurred.”
Pace described how the shooting allegedly occurred at the home of a teen whose parents were present, and said the adults could face additional charges.
“Obviously there were live guns there, the crime scene also consists of some other weapons — some BB guns, some fake guns — so how that live gun got there, who it belongs to, that is still all under investigation,” said Pace to reporters. “And there may be additional charges pending, depending on what we determine with respect to the ownership of that weapon.”