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This archival content was originally written for and published on KPCC.org. Keep in mind that links and images may no longer work — and references may be outdated.

KPCC Archive

16-year-old in custody after potential accidental shooting death

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A 16-year-old boy was in juvenile custody today in what may have been the accidental shooting death of a girl.

Alexis Wallace died in the roughly 5:45 p.m. shooting Sunday at a Mid-City home in the 1800 block of Wellington Road, where the boy had been living, authorities said.

Detectives told the Los Angeles Times the boy, whose name was withheld because of his age, was with two girls when the shooting occurred.

He had been playing with a revolver, talking about Russian roulette and loading and unloading the pistol, when one of the girls got up to leave. The boy leveled the gun at the girl, pulled the trigger and fatally wounded her in the lower back, police said.

It was unclear where the boy got the gun. The boy, from Compton, had recently been taken in by the Gamble family.

The boy was being held in Eastlake Juvenile Hall on suspicion of murder, police said.

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