A Florida man has been sentenced to more than 10 years in prison for fatally shooting a 16-year-old friend with a revolver he said he did not know was loaded.
Saam Rajaei, now 28, received a sentence of 124 1/2 months in prison Friday from 15th Circuit Court Judge Sherri Collins. A Palm Beach County jury found him guilty of one count of manslaughter in May.
Rajaei was 17 when he shot James Cartigiano, who was 16. Both teenagers attended Olympic Heights High School at the time.
The shooting occurred in January 2016 at a home on Sawpine Drive in an unincorporated area near Delray Beach, approximately 10 miles north of Boca Raton.
According to Tequesta-based WPBF, a group of teenagers had been “dry firing” a revolver that day. Dry firing generally involves pulling a firearm’s trigger when no ammunition is believed to be inside. In this case, however, the weapon was loaded.
At approximately 11:10 p.m., Rajaei called 911 to report the shooting.
“I didn’t mean for this to happen,” Rajaei told the dispatcher.
Another friend could be heard in the background asking what had happened. Rajaei responded, “He tried to get the gun…I put my finger on the trigger accidentally and shot him.”
During the call, Rajaei also asked another teenager why the revolver had been left on the counter if it was loaded.
Court documents obtained by West Palm Beach-based CBS affiliate WPEC said Rajaei later told deputies that Cartigiano had picked up the gun and was “waving it around.”
Rajaei initially claimed that he tried to take the weapon away from his friend and that the two struggled over it before a single shot was fired. The two other teenagers at the residence were reportedly not present when the gun discharged.
Deputies and paramedics arrived to find Cartigiano unresponsive on the kitchen floor with a gunshot wound to his head. Emergency personnel transported him to Delray Medical Center, where he underwent surgery.
Cartigiano remained hospitalised but died from his injuries five days after the shooting.
During a later interview, Rajaei changed part of his account, saying there had not been a struggle over the weapon. He continued to maintain that he picked up the revolver and fired it accidentally.
Rajaei also repeated his explanation to one of the teenagers who had been at the home that night, saying, “I put my finger on the trigger accidentally and shot him.”