ALLIANCE ‒ A mother is charged with tampering with evidence, accused of moving the gun her son allegedly used to shoot and kill a 15-year-old girl.
A police complaint filed in Alliance Municipal Court says the boy’s mother, who owned the gun, took her Glock 19 pistol back to the girl’s home in the 600 block of West Summit Street where the shooting occurred on June 19.
Her 14-year-old son is facing a juvenile count of involuntary manslaughter in connection with the shooting death of Kennedy Wise.
The police complaint alleges the boy took the gun with him after shooting the girl around 3:45 p.m. The suspect told his mother the death was a suicide, so she brought the gun back to the scene of the shooting around 4:30 p.m., the document says.
The 47-year-old mother “failed to tell officers on scene that she had done so,” the complaint says. “(The suspect) later admitted that he accidentally shot Kennedy Wise and that it was not suicide.”
The Repository is not name the defendants at this point given the child’s age and level of charges.
The mother is scheduled to be arraigned June 22 in Alliance Municipal Court. Tampering with evidence is a felony of the third degree.
Capt. James Hilles said the mother told officers she owned the gun for home protection. She could face additional charges because the gun was not secured.
He said the boy, who lives six blocks away, brought the gun to the girl’s house. He said detectives are investigating the shooting as accidental or reckless, pending further information. Hilles added the boy allegedly removed the loaded magazine from the gun but didn’t know there was one still in the chamber.
“He pointed at her and pulled the trigger thinking it was unloaded, according to his confession,” Hilles said in an email.
Police responded to a 911 call about the shooting at 4:15 p.m.
The shooting suspect is in the Multi-County Juvenile Attention Center. His mother is in the Stark County Jail.
A GoFundMe account has been established for Devin Vance, the mother of Wise. As of the morning of June 22, it had raised $29,533 of the $30,000 goal.
“No parent should ever have to endure the unimaginable pain of losing a child,” says the appeal posted by Jill Suddenly. “Devin is now navigating overwhelming grief while trying to care for her 4-year-old son, Nash, who is also trying to understand life without his big sister.”
The announcement says Vance faces an enormous financial burden.
“She must cover funeral and memorial expenses, biohazard cleanup costs for her home, professional grief and trauma counseling, legal expenses related to this tragedy, and will need time away from work to begin processing this devastating loss and care for her family,” it says. “She is also faced with the difficult reality that returning to her home may not be emotionally possible.”
More information about this developing story will be posted when it becomes available.
Staff writer Benjamin Duer contributed to this story.
Reach Nancy at 330-580-8382 or nancy.molnar@cantonrep.com. Follow her on X, formerly known as Twitter: @nmolnarTR.
This article originally appeared on The Repository: Alliance mother accused of moving gun after son allegedly kills girl
Reporting by Nancy Molnar, Canton Repository / The Repository
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By Nancy Molnar, Canton Repository | USA TODAY Network
