Story highlights The children were home alone

Police investigating whether to bring charges in tragedy

(CNN) A 10-year-old boy playing with a gun shot and killed an 11-year-old boy Thursday while they were home alone in Roanoke, Virginia, police said.

The two boys were "kin" but not siblings, said police spokesman Scott Leamon. Detectives are trying to determine exactly what happened, he said.

"They are interviewing some more people, analyzing all of the evidence," Leamon said. "They have to do a trace on the gun and test the fire from the gun to make sure the gun was working properly or if it malfunctioned."

Part of the police investigation will focus on why the gun was accessible, he said.

Both boys had been playing with the gun and the 10-year-old called 911 after the shooting, police said.

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