Teen won't be charged in fatal shooting

EAST POINT, Ga., July 2 (UPI) -- Police said Thursday they did not expect to file charges against a 14-year-old boy who fatally shot a 12-year-old playmate in an apartment south of Atlanta.

"It was a case of a gun in the home, and the two were just being inquisitive with it, and unfortunately, an accident happened," East Point, Ga., police Capt. Russell Popham told United Press International.

The victim, Jaquane Butler, who lived in another building at the apartment complex, was found unresponsive Wednesday night, shot once in the chest with a 12-gauge shotgun, police said.

He was pronounced dead at a hospital.

The unidentified older boy, accompanied by his mother, was temporarily detained for questioning, police said.

When the teen learned Butler had died, he was "extremely, extremely distraught," Detective Cliff Chandler told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Police were investigating how the gun was stored in the apartment to see if there was "blatant irresponsibility" by the unidentified teen's parents, Popham said.

Guns in Georgia do not need to be licensed.

Butler's funeral arrangements are pending, Popham said.