Police in Tennessee say a 12-year-old girl fatally shot another girl and is being charged with criminal homicide.

A statement from the Nashville Police Department says officers were called to Falcon View Apartments on East Palestine Avenue early Sunday on a report of a shooting.

According to a preliminary investigation, the girls were part of a group of juveniles who left the Nashville apartment and stole a gun from a vehicle in a nearby parking lot.

Criminal homicide: A police car sits outside the apartment block where a girl, 12, allegedly killed another girl aged 16.

Police say the girls brought the gun back to the apartment and the 12-year-old allegedly was handling it and pointing it at the others when it went off.

The 12-year-old faces charges in juvenile court. Her name was not released. Police say 16-year-old Brentrice Wilson was pronounced dead at the scene.

Police continue to investigate.