In January of last year, 19-year-old Cesar Cortes was shot and killed at Bellaire High School in Houston, Texas. During JROTC class, a friend of Cortes’ produced the gun and was showing it off. The 16-year-old shooter pulled the trigger thinking the gun was unloaded. The shooter had shown the gun off to multiple students prior to Cortes losing his life.
Late last week, the shooter was convicted of manslaughter. Since the media aren’t releasing his name I’m going to assume that he was tried as a juvenile. That probably means he’ll spend little to no time in juvenile detention, I’d say two years at most.
However, I have yet to see it reported where the shooter obtained the gun and can criminal charges be filed because of it? People who allow their guns to fall into the hands of minors that are used in shootings like this are rarely ever prosecuted.
UPDATE 1/28/2021: Apparently, I read the Texas laws regarding juveniles wrong. The still unnamed shooter has been sentenced to 12 years behind bars. He could potentially start his sentence in juvenile detention and be sent to standard prison once he ages out.
Real Crime with Trench Reynolds 