MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. – Two teenagers are dead after they were shot by their friend Monday while playing with a gun at a southwest Miami-Dade County home, police said.
Julio Labrada, 14, and Jose Villareal, 15, were visiting a friend’s home on Southwest 320th Street when the friend grabbed a gun that discharged, Miami-Dade police Detective Alvaro Zabaleta said.
One bullet fatally wounded the two teens, Zabaleta said.
The 15-year-old who fired the gun was taken into custody and faces manslaughter charges in his friends’ deaths.
Local 10 News is not naming the suspect because of his age.
According to an arrest affidavit, the suspect told detectives he was holding a gun in the garage of the home when it discharged.
During a search of the home, officers found two guns inside.
Detectives removed a hot-water heater with a bullet hole in it from the garage.
Labrada was an eighth-grade student at Keys Gate Charter School.
“The Keys Gate Charter family is deeply saddened by the loss of Julio Labrada, one of our eighth-grade students," school principal Corinne Baez said in a statement. “Grief counselors are on site to help any students or staff who are struggling. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family as they go through this very difficult time.”