Teen accused of shooting younger brother remains behind bars

MATTAPAN, Mass. (MyFoxBoston.com) – A 14-year-old remained behind bars Saturday after allegedly accidentally shooting and killing his 9-year-old brother at their home in Mattapan.

Friends and family identify the victim as Jan Marcos Pena, a fourth grader at the Hennigan School in Jamaica Plain. He lived with his mother and two siblings.

FOX 25 Reporter Crystal Haynes spoke to the landlord of the building where the family lived and said they were nice, and that the mother, Betty Nunez, was a hardworking pre-school teacher.

Ashleigh Juarez's daughter is a student in Nunez's class at a day care center in Dorchester. Juarez says Nunez was at work Friday morning when the shooting occurred. A family member told FOX 25 that the 9-year-old victim was home sick from school that day. Why the 14-year-old was home remains unclear.

"She not only lost one son, she lost two because one is now sitting in jail," Juarez said.

Police have not revealed how the teen got the gun and say they don't believe anyone at the home knew he had one until it was too late.

He is currently being charged with involuntary manslaughter and illegal possession of a firearm.

"Parents should be looking through their drawers and looking in the rooms, and letting us know if there's a gun in there. We're gonna save that kid's life," Mayor Martin Walsh said.

Walsh told FOX 25 that Boston Police took three or four guns off the street since his appeal to the public to turn in guns on Friday night.

He says he has been working with Boston Police Commissioner William Evans on a successful gun buy-back program among other initiatives to prevent tragedies like the one in Mattapan from happening again.

"We took off 678 guns off the street last year, we took off another 56 so far this year; that's a lot of guns off the street and there's still shootings, so I don't think we can capture how successful it is yet, until we can wrap our hands around how many illegal gun are out on the street," Walsh said.

The teenager accused in this case is scheduled to be arraigned in Juvenile court Monday. It will not be open to the public and police will not release his name because of his age.

Cox Media Group