A 13-year-old boy is dead after three juveniles were handling a gun late Sunday night in East Baton Rouge Parish, in a case that has left two teenagers being questioned by investigators and no charges filed as of Monday. The boy, a student at Westdale Middle, was found dead at the scene from his injuries.
According to sources cited by Unfiltered with Kiran, the three young teens had been playing soccer near Gardere Lane and obtained a gun while heading home afterward. One teen then fired the gun, striking the 13-year-old in the head, the outlet reported.
The outlet’s sources said the teens had removed the gun’s magazine but did not realize a bullet remained in the chamber, a detail that helps explain how the weapon still discharged even after the teens apparently believed it had been emptied. The East Baton Rouge Sheriff’s Office is investigating the shooting, and the outlet’s report notes that the other two teens were away from the scene when the boy was found.
Investigation Continues, No Charges Filed Yet
As of publication, authorities had not charged anyone in connection with the shooting, and the two other teenagers involved were being questioned by investigators, per the same account. The boy’s name has not been publicly released. At Westdale Middle, where the victim was a student, counselors were on campus to assist students who may need help processing the loss.
A Painful Pattern Across the Parish
This is not the first time a Baton Rouge-area teen has died after friends were handling a firearm. In September 2024, a 15-year-old died after a single gunshot wound while friends were reportedly playing with a gun, and a teenager was subsequently arrested and charged with negligent homicide, according to the same outlet’s earlier reporting.
A similar incident unfolded in Gonzales, where a 14-year-old boy was shot in the abdomen while he and a 16-year-old friend were handling a gun at a house on Midland Drive. The Ascension Parish Sheriff’s Office said the 16-year-old was later arrested and accused of negligent injuring, illegal use of a weapon, possession of a handgun by a juvenile, and obstruction of justice, Unfiltered with Kiran reported, and WAFB reported. Separately, a shooting near Gardere Lane left one person injured and taken to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, according to WBRZ.
Juvenile Deaths Have Mounted for Years
The toll on young people in East Baton Rouge Parish has been steep. Juvenile violence in the parish has claimed 83 lives over the last six years, WBRZ reported, with homicide counts climbing and falling year to year: 19 juveniles killed in 2022, eight in 2023, 13 in 2024, and nine in 2025, the station’s report states. The station also reported that 11 juveniles had already been killed in the parish within six months of the current year referenced in its report.
State and national data underline how firearms have become a dominant threat to young people. Firearms were the leading cause of death among Louisiana residents ages 1 to 17 in 2024, according to the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Solutions, which also found Louisiana had the nation’s second-highest overall gun homicide rate that year. Nationally, adolescents ages 12 to 17 had a firearm death rate of 7.5 per 100,000 in 2024, compared with just 0.6 per 100,000 among children 11 and younger, per data from KFF.
