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<\/p>\nA Bronx family is grieving after police say a teenager was accidentally shot and killed while he and a friend were handling a gun.<\/p>\n
Police say just after 5 a.m. Monday, officers responded to a 911 call reporting a person shot inside an apartment on Prospect Avenue in Crotona Park.<\/p>\n
Investigators say John Nunez, 16, and a friend were handling a gun when it accidentally discharged. When officers arrived at the apartment, they found Nunez with a fatal gunshot wound to the head.<\/p>\n
Some, including Nunez’s family, are not convinced the shooting was an accident, and they are hoping the investigation answers the questions they have.<\/p>\n
“We still don’t know, whose gun was it?” said Sol Nunez, John Nunez’s older sister. “They say it was an accident, but who knows?”<\/p>\n
The Nunez family is hoping this tragedy reminds others how dangerous loaded firearms can be.<\/p>\n
“Guns are not for kids, first of all. Are not for people that have a good heart, like John did,” Sol Nunez said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
John Nunez, 16, was accidentally shot and killed while he and a friend were handling a gun in the Bronx on Aug. 10, 2026, police say.<\/p>\n
CBS News New York<\/p>\n
Flowers and candles sat outside the Nunez’s home in Longwood on Thursday night as loved ones remembered him.<\/p>\n
“My family is very devastated. It’s very hard on them because John was our youngest,” Sol Nunez said.<\/p>\n
She said her younger brother lit up a room with his smile, wanted to go into the Army and have a family.<\/p>\n
“He loved being with his friends. He loved being with his family. He loved kids,” she said.<\/p>\n
“He was like really a brother to me,” friend Ethan Velazquez said. “It hurts to see somebody like that gone.”<\/p>\n
Friends and family are hoping to keep John Nunez’s memory alive by remembering the determination he had for life.<\/p>\n
“He always knew what he wanted to do,” Velazquez said. “I respect him for that and appreciate him for that. That’s my brother. I’m going to live that on for him.”<\/p>\n
John Nunez was the first of two teenagers killed by gun violence in the Bronx this week.<\/p>\n
Wednesday night, 15-year-old Riley Billingslea<\/a> was found shot in the head in a Bronx apartment. A 13-year-old boy was also grazed by a bullet. Police believe the shooting stemmed from an argument. Sources said investigators were searching for a person of interest Thursday.<\/p>\n