MUSKEGON, MI - Another family is grieving the senseless loss of a child apparently the result of a sibling messing around with a gun.

Fourteen-year-old Kahmyah Robertson was shot and killed Monday afternoon in Muskegon Heights and her 16-year-old brother has confessed to being the shooter, said Muskegon Heights Police Chief Joseph E. Thomas Jr.

The shooting around 1:50 p.m. Monday, Aug. 20, at the teens' home in the 2500 block of Elwood Street is described by police as an accidental shooting.

Just over a year ago, an 18-year-old pleaded guilty to the accidental shooting death of his 15-year-old brother inside a car parked in a bowling alley lot. Dareese Davon Hewlett Jr. was sentenced to three months in jail for manslaughter in the death of his brother, Davion Hewlett and carrying a concealed weapon.

Robertson died at Mercy Health Hackley Campus around 2:30 p.m. Monday, Thomas said. She had been shot in the lower back, with the bullet exiting her chest, he said.

Her brother is being held at the Muskegon County Juvenile Detention Center, and Thomas said he is seeking to have the teen charged as an adult based on his past record. Thomas declined to discuss details of that record.

The teen siblings initially were believed to be alone in the home just north of Sherman Boulevard. But Thomas said investigators have since learned that two of their siblings also were present when the shooting occurred as well as the individual who brought the handgun to the home.

The suspected shooter had a wound to his hand consistent with improper handling of the gun, Thomas said.

Update: Teen faces open murder charge in fatal shooting of sister

The police chief appealed to parents to watch their children and to warn them against hanging out with those who flash weapons, including on social media, because it might be that weapons that ends up killing them.

"Watch who they're hanging out with; watch what they're doing on Facebook," Thomas said. "This is a disease ... and we've got to treat it like a disease. There has to be a cultural shift. You can't do this through legislation you can't do this with police."

It's believed there was an attempt to throw off first-responders because whomever called dispatch reported the incident as a baby not breathing, Thomas said. When firefighters arrived, they didn't find a baby, but did find the young woman suffering from a gunshot wound, he said.

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