Kuaron and Paris Harvey: Kids, 14 and 12, die as gun goes off during Instagram live
Two cousins died in what cops are calling a murder-suicide while playing with a gun during an Instagram live. Kuaron Harvey and Paris Harvey, aged 14 and 12 respectively, died when a gun that the younger child was toying with went off and killed her cousin. The incident prompted her to shoot herself.
While police initially claimed the tragedy was a murder-suicide, the children's family believes otherwise. “It was no murder. It wasn’t a suicide,” Paris’ distraught mother, Shinise Harvey, 35, told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “It was a freak accident. It happened.” She said she did not watch the video herself but family members who saw it said the kids were “trying to be too hip".
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Police said that the cousins were first found unresponsive at 2:07 a.m. and pronounced dead at the scene soon after. “It wasn’t a situation where they were arguing or anything like that,” said Susan Dyson, the deceased girl’s grandmother. "They were playing with a gun when they shouldn’t have been. Of course, they shouldn’t have been doing it." "I think it just went off," Dyson said. "It went off by mistake."
The cousins were reportedly at a birthday party for young family members, including teenagers and young adults, when they went into the bathroom to film in front of a mirror. This is where the tragedy took place. The family said that the two kids were very close to each other, like "brother and sister." They played around when they were together, pulling pranks, rapping, or making videos. “No matter how good we raise our kids they still are going to venture off,” Shinise Harvey said. St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department posted a message on social media, saying, "We are sending our heartfelt condolences to the family of 12-year-old Paris Harvey and 14-year-old Kuaron Harvey who tragically passed away on 3/25/22.”
Tragedies caused by unattended guns are not very uncommon. In January this year, a Milwaukee man, 47, admitted to fatally shooting his daughter, 8, by 'mistake' during a gun safety demonstration. Michael Anthony Huddleston has been charged with first-degree reckless homicide, and also with felony possession of a firearm. Milwaukee Police said that Tiana Huddleston was shot in the chest inside her family's home in the presence of many of her siblings.
In another incident, this March, a three-year-old kid accidentally shot his mother to death when the family was sitting in their car in a suburban Chicago supermarket parking lot. The woman was shot on Saturday, March 12, in Dolton and died at a hospital, according to authorities. The shooting happened around 8.30 pm. The family was sitting in their car outside a Food 4 Less store when the kid discovered the pistol and fired it, shooting his mother. Authorities stated the boy's father was taken into custody after revealing ownership of the rifle. Dejah Bennet, 22, was named as the victim.
Back in March 2020, an 11-year-old boy accidentally shot his little sister while playing with an unattended loaded gun in their house. The child's mother, Renae-Owens, 30, from Hanahan was charged with two counts of unlawful conduct toward a child. According to the incident report, Bernadette left her children alone at their home on the night of October 5. The children were playing when they found a loaded gun in a laundry basket lying on the bedroom floor.