A typical water gun fight in New York ended with a fatality after someone brought a real gun. 17-year-old Darrell Harris was fatally shot in the Bronx around 8:15 PM on Tuesday, June 24, in what was supposed to be a fun water gun fight during a hot summer evening, according to PEOPLE.
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Water Gun Fight Ends With 17-Year-Old Dead After Someone Pulled Out A Real Gun
The shooting happened near Sheridan Boulevard and East 173rd Street. Someone shot the teen boy in the head and arm, leaving him with critical injuries. Unfortunately, Harris succumbed to his wounds and died in Jacobi Hospital.
Harris’s mother is now fighting for stricter gun laws after the fight in Starlight Park turned violent, per News12. “About 8 p.m., I called his phone, and I said, ‘What time are you coming home?'” Said his mother, Kellie Lewis. Harris told his mom he’d be home by 9 PM.
Mere minutes after that phone call, Harris was shot. Police allege that someone repeatedly squirted Harris with a water gun before the incident. This led to the 17-year-old asking the suspect to stop squirting him with water. That’s when the suspect pulled out a real gun and shot him.
“A young lady called back from my son’s phone, and she said, ‘Are you the mom of the person of this phone?'” The mother recalled. “I said, ‘Yes, What’s going on? She said, ‘He got shot, he’s laying on the floor.'”
Mother Of Victim Calls For Stricter Gun Laws
Lewis is now grieving the loss of another child. She had tragically lost her eldest son to gun violence in 2021. Despite rushing to the scene of the crime, Harris’s wounds were too serious.
“We need stricter gun rules,” said Lewis. “A child’s first impulse shouldn’t be to shoot someone…these kids get weapons like they’re going to by a bag of chips. I have other children that I have to make sure they are OK, and the impact that this is going to have on them, I have to be strong to get my son properly buried.”
Kellie remembered her son as a bright, young man who went to Bronx Leadership Academy. “My son was no gangbanger; he was no troublemaker,” she explained. “He barely came outside. He was barely into anything for anyone to have a reason to hurt him.”
The victim’s mother is now hoping the suspect turns themselves in. “He should suffer the consequences for what he did because he took someone’s life and destroyed a family and he should not get away for what he did.”