An Ohio teen has succumbed to injuries he sustained three weeks ago after being shot by a friend while fooling around with firearms.
Keontae Harper, 16, died on Tuesday at Mount Carmel East Hospital in Columbus after being shot in the head last month, The Columbus Dispatch reported.
Harper and his friend 17-year-old Denarius Crowder, 17, were jokingly pointing handguns at each other on the 2900 block of Falcon Bridge Driver on April 22.
Crowder was subsequently arrested and charged with a delinquency count of felonious assault. That charge has been upgraded to a delinquency count of reckless homicide.
Both boys were students at Independence High School.
In the weeks before Harper’s death, his grandfather, Michael, updated the public on the teen’s condition through Facebook.
On May 6, he announced that the family decided to register Harper as an organ donor.
Harper is the fifth person under 18 to die from gun violence this year, the Dispatch said. In 2022, shootings across the city killed 11 juveniles.
𝗖𝗿𝗲𝗱𝗶𝘁𝘀, 𝗖𝗼𝗽𝘆𝗿𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 & 𝗖𝗼𝘂𝗿𝘁𝗲𝘀𝘆: nypost.com
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𝗣𝗹𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗲 𝘀𝗲𝗻𝗱 𝘂𝘀 𝗮𝗻 𝗲𝗺𝗮𝗶𝗹 𝗮𝘁 dmca@enspirers.com
