An Oakland shooting has left one girl dead after her 14-year-old brother shot her because of an argument over laundry. The girl was reportedly shot and killed Thursday afternoon in a downtown apartment.
This isn’t the first instance of sibling violence to take place this week. An earlier report by The Inquisitr stated that a 14-year-old girl in Mundelein, Illinois , stabbed and killed her 11-year-old half-sister Tuesday morning. Police and local communities were shocked to find out the motive behind the attack. The girl told police that she brutally stabbed her younger half-sister some 40 times because she believed the girl was being ungrateful.
The report stated that the community has been shocked by the news of this event. Neighbors said that the siblings had seemed close as they were often seen playing together and practicing cheerleading routines. “They would always be together,” Mary Ann Gryder, a neighbor told CNN affiliate, WLS. “The older one would be taking care of the younger one, and vice versa.
According to the Huffington Post , the motive behind the Oakland shooting is just as shocking as the Mundelein murder. Relatives of the 17-year-old California girl have told reporters that the girl was shot and killed by her 14-year-old brother because of an argument over laundry.
KTVU reported that the girl, now being identified as 17-year-old Justice Toliver, had bleached her brother’s clothes, which sparked the argument that ultimately lead to her death. Toliver’s father told the news agency that his daughter had a young daughter of her own and had just gotten a new job.
Police do not know where the 14-year-old boy is now, and KTVU stated that his father is now pleading with his son to either turn himself in or at the very least, call someone.
“We all love you, we care about you son. We know it was an accident, a mistake,” he said Thursday choking back tears.
According to Oakland police spokeswoman, Johnna Watson, the authorities received the report of the shooting just after noon on Thursday and found the girl in the downtown apartment with a fatal gunshot wound. The victim was then pronounced dead by emergency medical workers.
Police are still actively investigating the situation and have yet to confirm a motive. The 14-year-old’s family says that they don’t know how or when the boy got a hold of the gun used in the incident.
Sibling violence such as the Oakland shooting and the Mundelein murder, unfortunately, seems to be a hot topic at the moment. There must be some underlying reason as to why young children are using violence as a way to take out their anger and frustrations on their friends, loved ones, and yes, even on themselves. Share your thoughts in the comments below.