(MILWAUKEE) — A suspect arrested in the fatal shooting of a 15-year-old Milwaukee girl allegedly told investigators it was the first time he had ever fired a gun, according to a criminal complaint.
Marcellus Duckworth, 23, of Milwaukee, was charged with first-degree reckless homicide in the death of 15-year-old Gabby Landry, according to police.
Landry was in the backseat of a car when Duckworth allegedly fired a gun into the vehicle during an argument on Feb. 13 in the Silver Spring neighborhood of north Milwaukee.
Landry was later pronounced dead at a hospital.
When Duckworth learned a teenage girl in the vehicle had been struck and killed, he purportedly told detectives “he did not mean to do that and it was his first time shooting a gun and there were no excuses,” according to the criminal complaint obtained by ABC affiliate station WISN in Milwaukee.
The suspect told detectives he was aiming at a tire of the vehicle when he allegedly fired, according to the criminal complaint.
Duckworth appeared in court on Friday and was ordered to be held in jail on $50,000 bail.
Duckworth’s girlfriend told police the incident unfolded after she made an Instagram post about selling shoes and received a message from a woman who claimed to have had a relationship with Duckworth and was coming to his house to fight, according to the complaint.
When the woman arrived at Duckworth’s house with Landry and another teenager, she allegedly vandalized Duckworth’s girlfriend’s car, and then Duckworth allegedly confronted them with a gun, according to the complaint.
As the woman started to drive away, Duckworth and his girlfriend chased them on foot, and Duckworth allegedly fired at the vehicle, striking Landry, according to the complaint.
Landry’s death is the latest in a series of shootings in Milwaukee this year in which children have been killed. The shooting came just three days after 10-year-old Jada Clay was fatally shot in her home, allegedly by her mother, Henrietta Rogers, who was charged with reckless homicide.
Among the victims in the other child homicides was 8-year-old Tiana Huddleston, who was allegedly killed Jan. 2 by her father, Michael Huddleston, who claimed it was an accident, according to police. Huddleston was charged with reckless homicide.
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