A 14-year-old boy died three days after being accidentally shot in the face by his 16-year-old brother earlier this month in East Liberty, authorities reported Thursday.
Carmello Mosley died on Jan. 7 at UPMC Presbyterian hospital, according to the Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Office.
Jordan Mosley, Carmello’s brother, remained in Allegheny County Jail Thursday on charges of aggravated assault, recklessly endangering another person and firearm possession, court records show.
A judge denied Mosley bail a day after the shooting, calling the teen “a threat to the victim and community,” court records show.
Police said Mosley called 911 at 10:33 p.m. Jan. 4.
“I accidentally shot my brother,” he said, according to a criminal complaint.
When Pittsburgh police arrived at the East Liberty home, police said Mosley was waiting at the front door and holding a cellphone.
He had fresh blood on his hands, police said. So did a Glock handgun, loaded with an extended magazine, that police saw in plain view.
Officers said they found Carmello lying on the living-room floor with blood on his face. First responders rushed him to UPMC Presbyterian hospital in “grave condition.”
The two brothers, the only ones at home at the time, were “playing with guns” — specifically a Glock and a Smith and Wesson, police said.
The criminal complaint does not say whether the teens lived at the home in the 6200 block of East Liberty Boulevard, near the border with the city’s Larimer neighborhood.
The teens were “attempting to disarm one another,” police said. When they thought someone was approaching the house, Mosley told police they would pop the magazines back into the guns.
Mosely also told police he pulled the trigger once and the gun did not fire, the complaint said. He cocked it a second time and it did; a bullet struck his younger brother in the mouth.
Police detained Mosely and interrogated him in front of his father, the complaint said. He was charged the next day.
Mosley is being prosecuted as an adult, court records show.
His preliminary hearing is scheduled for Jan. 17 at Pittsburgh Municipal Court.
Neither of the boys were attending Pittsburgh Public Schools at the time of the shooting, spokeswoman Ebony Pugh told TribLive.
They previously had attended the Barack Obama Academy of International Studies, also known as Pittsburgh Obama 6–12, in East Liberty, Pugh said. School officials have been counseling any students there in need.
“Our thoughts are with the family during this difficult time,” she said.
