Investigation Continues on Teen who Died of Self-Inflicted Gunshot Wound

Updated April 4, 11:37 a.m.

over the weekend had been playing with a loaded gun that belonged to his mother, police say.

After initial reports from the Cook County Medical Examiner's office determined the shooting a suicide, acquaintances of the deceased say it was an accident.

Family and friends have described the teen as “full of life” and said “he wouldn’t have shot himself,” some adding that "It was a game."

At about 11:26 p.m. on March 31, said they responded to a call for a subject with a gunshot wound in the 2600 block of West 99th Street and found the teenage boy shot, lying on the garage floor.

Paramedics from the who arrived on the scene contacted Ingalls Hospital before pronouncing the teen dead at 11:45 p.m., police said.

According to reports, the boy brought the gun with him to the Evergreen Park home. Evergreen Park Police confirmed Wednesday that the gun belonged to the boy's mother, who is a law enforcement official.

After interviewing several juvenile witnesses, police said, "None of the kids ever said that he was going to do it on purpose," adding that "he had been pulling the trigger throughout the course of the night and apparently pointed it at himself and it went off."

Evergreen Park Police have turned the investigation over to the South Suburban Major Crimes Task Force. The Cook County Medical Examiner's Office will deliver a toxicology report and any additional findings within the next 6 to 8 weeks, police said.

FOX Chicago News reported that family and friends remembered the teen Tuesday night at a wake.

Patch will update you as information becomes available.

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