Teen charged with deadly shooting of friend

Teen charged in deadly shooting of friend

A 17-year-old was shot and killed as he was played video games with fellow teenagers in a southwest Atlanta home.

ATLANTA - A southwest Atlanta mother is devastated after a teen she was raising shot and killed her only son, 17-year-old Antonio Kendrae Thornton.

The deadly shooting happened around 11:20 p.m. Sunday night in the 1300 block of Willow Drive in southwest Atlanta. The 17-year-old boy, who goes by his middle name Kendrae, was playing a video game in his room with his friend.

"All of a sudden, I heard a loud ‘pop’ and my mom yelled, ‘What's that noise I hear?’ Then my son's friend started saying, ‘I didn't mean it. I didn't mean it.’ And I look at my son and he had a gunshot wound on the left side of his head," Chestdra Brown recalled.

Antonio Kendrae Thornton and his family (Family photo)

Ms. Brown said the shooting was an accident. Atlanta police have charged the 16-year-old gunman with involuntary manslaughter and reckless conduct in the death of his 17-year-old friend.

Antonio Kendrae Thornton and his family (Family photo)

Brown said she is most alarmed because she had no idea the teens, who are both known to sell bottles of water along the busy streets of Atlanta, had a 9mm handgun in her house.

"I wasn't even aware the gun was in my house because if I had known, everyone would not have congregated in my son's room. No gun violence. No, gun violence is not tolerated," Ms. Brown revealed.