A 14-year-old Georgia boy is facing a murder charge after he allegedly shot and killed his 12-year-old friend while handling a gun at the victim’s home, Atlanta police said.
The suspect, whose identity has not been released due to his age, remains in custody at the Metro Youth Detention Center. Family members have identified the victim as Cameron Coney.
Officers responded to a home on the 1800 block of Lathrop Street SE shortly before 2 p.m. on Saturday after receiving reports of a shooting. Upon arrival, they found Cameron with a gunshot wound. He was rushed to a nearby hospital, where he was later pronounced dead.
Police have not disclosed the full circumstances leading up to the shooting, but relatives told WSB that Cameron had friends over that afternoon. One of the teenagers allegedly brought a gun to the gathering.
Cameron’s aunt, Latosha Coney, described the chilling moments before the fatal shot was fired. “We were told one of them pointed the gun at all the friends, and when it got to Cameron, it was on his chest,” she told the station.
The 14-year-old allegedly pulled the trigger at that point. Whether the shooting was accidental or intentional remains unclear, and police have not made a determination on that front.
Cameron’s family described him as a bright, joyful child in a GoFundMe fundraiser set up to cover funeral expenses. He was, they wrote, a “silly, playful young boy who was known for making people laugh with his jokes.”
The family also expressed the particular anguish of where the tragedy unfolded. “What makes this tragedy even more heartbreaking is that Cameron was shot in his own room, in the place where he should have felt the most safe — his home. No family should ever have to endure this kind of pain,” the fundraiser description read.
The suspect’s next court date has not yet been announced. The case has reignited conversations about unsupervised access to firearms among minors and the devastating consequences that can follow.
Cameron was just 12 years old.
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