12-year-old is shot dead while playing with gun

A 12-year-old boy was shot and killed in south St. Louis on Tuesday night, St. Louis media outlets reported Wednesday morning.

Damian Holmes and his 9-year-old brother were home alone in the 3300 block of Michigan Avenue in South City when the shooting occurred, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Holmes and the 9-year-old were reportedly playing with a gun, but it wasn’t clear who fired the shot that killed the 12-year-old, the newspaper reported.

The children’s father came home before 11 p.m. and took Holmes to a hospital, where the boy was pronounced dead. Police were investigating the shooting as an accident.

This story was originally published March 15, 2017 at 8:14 AM with the headline "12-year-old is shot dead while playing with gun."