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TORONTO — A teenage boy will have to serve six months in open custody and nearly a year on probation in the death of a 14-year-old girl who was struck by a stray bullet in northwest Toronto nearly two years ago.

Lecent Ross was visiting a friend’s home on July 9, 2015 when she was hit by gunfire from an illegal semi-automatic handgun.

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A boy, who was 13 at the time of the shooting, was initially charged with manslaughter but pleaded guilty last fall of the lesser charge of criminal negligence causing death.

The 15-year-old’s lawyer, John Erickson, said outside court Friday that the boy wasn’t aware the weapon was loaded.

Erickson said the teens were in the boy’s bedroom on the morning of the shooting.

“My client had recently obtained a firearm for personal protection,” he said. “He didn’t realize it was loaded at the time.”

“He was handling it in the bedroom, moved to get past her in a fairly confined area where the bed was quite close to the wall and … the firearm was discharged,” Erickson said. “She died virtually instantly.”