On Monday of this week, a 13-year-old Malachi Stephens from Forest Park, Georgia tragically lost his life.
Young Malachi was live streaming on Instagram to his friends with a gun in his hand. He was allegedly trying to load a clip into the firearm.
Just moments later his Mother, Shaniqua Stephens, heard a loud “boom”.
The Mother of Malachi said:
“I heard a big boom. I could not tell if it was a gunshot or what…
We kicked in the door. 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.”
Shaniqua also said that many of Malachi’s friends had been watching the live Instagram feed. Then kids immediately began showing up at the Stephens’ home. According to his Mother, there were about 40 to 50 kids outside their house, presumably all the kids watching the Instagram live.
“There was about 40 to 50 kids outside…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.”
Stephens’ friends and family held a vigil for the boy shortly after the incident occurred.
Shaniqua is not sure how Malachi got the gun that unfortunately ended his life. She guessed that it must have been a friend of a friend who provided it. Authorities in the Atlanta, Georgia region are looking into how the young boy obtained the firearm.
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