A 17-year-old boy died Sunday after he was shot once in the stomach by his sister’s baby’s father during an argument inside the teen’s family home in Boynton Beach, police said.
Trenton Robinson, 24, of Georgia, is facing one count of second-degree murder with a firearm in the death of Josiah Jones. The teen was shot when he tried to intervene in an argument between Robinson and the mother of his baby, who is Josiah’s sister, according to a probable cause affidavit.
Robinson came to Josiah’s family home near the 500 block of Northwest Ninth Avenue on Sunday morning to pick up his child in common with Josiah’s sister, the affidavit said. Josiah was upstairs when Robinson and his sister began arguing and came down to separate them.
Josiah grabbed Robinson and toppled onto a bed while holding him but the two were not physically fighting or hurting one another, his sister told detectives. Robinson while struggling to get out of Josiah’s hold took out a gun and shot him in the stomach. She heard Robinson say that Josiah “should have got off me,” the affidavit said.
Josiah’s mother who was home at the time told detective she heard a popping noise as she was coming downstairs and saw her son fall to the floor. She heard her daughter yell: “You just shot my brother,” and saw Robinson holding a gun, the affidavit said.
Officers found Josiah inside the home and tried to treat him before he was taken to Delray Medical Center. He was pronounced dead at the hospital.
Robinson repeatedly said to relatives in the home and police who detained him that the shooting was an accident, according to the affidavit. He told detectives he tried to remove the gun from his sweatshirt pocket during the struggle “because he did not want to shoot himself,” and it fired unintentionally as he removed it.
