Ghost Guns: A 13-Year-Old’s Weapon of Choice

A 13-year-old boy who had been making guns in his family’s Georgia home and then selling them on the streets of not only his neighborhood, but also those in neighboring Carroll County and Atlanta about 20 miles away, shot and killed his own sister during a deal gone wrong, reports the Washington Post. The teenager, who has been arrested and charged with murder, was allegedly set to sell one of his wares to two men who, instead of buying the gun as agreed, robbed him and stole it before he pulled out another gun he’d made and shot at them, hitting fourteen-year-old Kyra Scott in the process who later died at the hospital.

Kyra’s brother admitted to unintentionally shooting his older sister and law enforcement also arrested one of the men they say robbed the boy — 19-year-old Yusef McArthur El — charging him with robbery and murder. Douglas County Sheriff’s 1st Lt. Jon Mauney said his investigators are still trying to figure out how long the 13-year-old had been making guns and how many of the weapons are in circulation. Law enforcement agencies recovered nearly 24,000 ghost guns in the last five years, according to a recent Justice Department news release. In 2016, they seized 1,750; last year that number had skyrocketed upward of 8,700.