Jaelynn Poturalski: Ohio teen's parents claim he 'accidentally' shot dead his girlfriend
LUCAS COUNTY, OHIO: Jaelynn Poturalski, an 18-year-old teen from Ohio, was fatally shot by her minor boyfriend in "a neighborhood dispute" on September 2. However, the parents of the boy shared that his son fired at the girl but it was ‘unintentional.’
The teen girl breathed her last after getting shot on Langdon Street in the Southside neighborhood of Toledo. She was rushed to Vincent’s hospital where she eventually died while fighting for her life.
What did Lucas County authorities say Jaelynn Poturalski's death?
“On 9/3/2023, the Lucas County Coroner’s Office performed an autopsy on the body of 18-year-old Jaelynn Poturalski and found the cause of death to be a Gunshot Wound to the Chest,” said Lucas County Coroner’s Office in a statement. “The manner of death is ruled as Homicide. Jaelynn Poturalski was pronounced dead at St. Vincent’s Hospital on 9/2/2023 at 11:26 a.m.”
The accused was charged with one count of murder and is currently detained in the Juvenile Justice Center, as per Toledo Police Department. Jaelynn was killed reportedly with an automated pistol or handgun.
Police said Poturalski suffered "from at least one gunshot wound. (It was) a neighborhood dispute that somehow turned into a fight and at some point, a gun was pulled.”
On Saturday, 18-year-old Jaelynn Marie Poturalski was shot and killed in Toledo, Ohio by a 16-year-old.
— Newtown Action Alliance (@NewtownAction) September 4, 2023
This is the sixth homicide in a month-long span in the Toledo area.#EndGunViolence pic.twitter.com/dioxOSQ1ak
What did suspect's parents say on Jaelynn Poturalski's killing?
The boy’s parents claim that the fight started among much younger children, neighborhood kids around five and six years old, reports Law&Crime.
“It was like a little neighborhood dispute and older kids,” the boy’s mother told WTOL. “The cops are called one time. They didn’t do nothing and then the older kids down the street got into it and it turned into this.”
During the dispute, as per the parents, Poturalski was trying to calm her boyfriend down when he took out a gun. “He said, ‘I was just trying to scare them. ‘I didn’t mean to shoot her.'”
“We’re not the parents to say, ‘Oh, our child would never! Our child would never!’ We’re not them. Bottom line is: our child should have never picked up a gun. Behind him picking up a gun, someone he loves is gone,” added the boy’s father.
“Nobody realizes how much they loved each other and how much we loved her,” the suspect’s mother further said.
It is reported that friends and relatives attended a candlelight vigil for Poturalski on the night of the young girl’s death.