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This incident occurred last March but is worth talking about in the context of gun safety. Always lock your loaded firearms away from the reach of young kids.
Two young cousins from Missouri were livestreaming when one fatally shot the other before she killed herself, police and a relative said.
St. Louis police identified the children as Paris Harvey, 12, and her cousin Kuaron Harvey, 14, both of St. Louis.
Officers responded to a call about a shooting in the 1000 block of Spruce Street at 2 a.m. Friday , the police department said.
The "victim and suspect were located inside a residence suffering from puncture wounds," police said. Both were pronounced dead at the scene.
Police classified the incident as a murder-suicide, but family members say it was a tragic accident.
Paris’ mother, Shinise Harvey, told NBC affiliate KSDK of St. Louis that she let her daughter go to the apartment for a family party celebrating March birthdays. Harvey said Kuaron is the son of her brother, the station reported.
She said the kids were making a video on Instagram Live in which Paris was playing with the gun, “but it went off and hit” Kuaron.
Paris “dropped the gun, and it fell, and it went off, to my knowledge. And then when she picked it up, she picked it up by the barrel and it went off. That’s all I know. ... It was not a suicide. It was just a freak accident,” she told KSDK.
Harvey said she didn’t know how her daughter got hold of the gun.