Oklahoma teen turns gun on himself after accidentally killing own mother

A 16-year-old boy from Oklahoma committed suicide shortly after he accidentally killed his mum while toying with a firearm in the living room of their home over the weekend.

Del City Police confirmed the tragic news happened on Saturday around 11:22 p.m. The unidentified teen was reportedly playing with a pistol when it accidentally went off. The bullet penetrated through the wall that separated the kitchen and the living room.

The boy's mother, 36-year-old Stephanie Rowshawne Jennings, was unfortunately in the kitchen when the incident happened. The bullet hit her in the head and she died on the spot. Del City Police Major Bradley Rule told People that "she fell to the floor right then and was deceased."

Rule said the teen immediately ran to the kitchen and "saw what he did and ended up running outside to the street where he turned the gun on himself." Police officers reportedly arrived at the scene after a neighbour called about a gunshot noise heard on the street.

They found the boy with a self-inflicted gunshot wound lying on the street and the pistol beside him. He was rushed to OU Medical Center where he sadly eventually died from his injuries.

Rule said "the whole thing is terrible" and admitted that he does not know if the boy "was messing" with the gun or "playing with it."

"He wasn't cleaning it. It was a firearm in the house," he said as he recalled what an eyewitness told him of the events. He said there was "somebody sitting in the living room when it happened." He confirmed that the eyewitness' account of the events "lined up with the evidence on the scene."

"I don't think [the witness] knew his intention was to kill himself. I think he knew he was upset over what happened and they were trying to calm him down and then, of course, he shot himself," Rule explained and shared his belief that the teenager "was so distraught over what he had done for whatever reason he decided to take his own life." He also ruled the death of Jennings as "an accident" although police are still investigating the tragic incident.