COLUMBUS (AP) — Police say the shooting death of a 12-year-old boy at a Hilltop home is now being investigated as a homicide.
Columbus police said Demitri Gore died at the scene in the home on S. Warren Avenue Monday evening.
12-YEAR-OLD KILLED IN ACCIDENTAL SHOOTING:
2/17/20@6:52pm-CPD was called to 595 S. Warren Ave., on a shooting. (Hilltop)
Demitri Gore died bc of unsafe handling of a loaded firearm.
How the shooting occurred, who was involved & how the gun was obtained is under investigation. pic.twitter.com/1dx3j3AbCV
— Columbus Division of Police (@ColumbusPolice) February 18, 2020
Police said their initial investigation and witness accounts suggested he was wounded by unsafe handling of a loaded firearm but further investigation prompted treating the case as a homicide.
Homicide Sgt. Jeff Strayer told the Columbus Dispatch that a ruling of homicide in the coroner’s office’s preliminary autopsy findings doesn’t mean that the shooting was intentional or done with malice.