Macon teen faces involuntary manslaughter charge in shooting death of 8-year-old girl
Bibb County sheriff’s investigators on Friday arrested a Macon 14-year-old in the shooting death of 8-year-old Miracle Brantley, who witnesses have said was fatally wounded Jan. 29 while she was playing with a gun.
The teen, who was not being charged as an adult, has been accused of involuntary manslaughter, reckless conduct and possession of a firearm by a person under the age of 18, sheriff’s officials said in a statement.
The incident is thought to have happened at a Ballard Drive home where Miracle’s grandmother was keeping her and other children the afternoon of Jan. 29.
Miracle, shot in the head, died two days later at an Atlanta hospital.
An initial police report said the grandmother told a sheriff’s deputy in the moments after the shooting “that she found Miracle in the kitchen with her face covered in blood and drove her to the hospital. ... (The grandmother) further stated that (name redacted) had brought a gun home without her knowledge and (the children) were playing with it in the kitchen when it went off.”
A Friday news release from the sheriff’s office quoted Bibb District Attorney Anita Reynolds Howard as saying violent episodes involving children “hit hardest on our community.”
The news release also quoted Sheriff David Davis: “This tragic incident has shocked our community. The sheriff’s office and the DA’s office stand together to bring justice to the memory of little Miracle Brantley.”