Police: Gun in Chesapeake girl's shooting taken from adult

CHESAPEAKE

The gun that police say was used by a teen in last month's fatal shooting of a 12-year-old girl in Deep Creek came from another youth, authorities said Wednesday.

Just hours after a hearing for the 13-year-old boy charged in the shooting death of Carolyn "Cee-Cee" Walker, police announced that the gun had come from a youth who had taken it from a parent without the parent's knowledge.

Police said the defendant, who is charged with manslaughter, "obtained" the gun from that juvenile.

Police spokeswoman Kelly O'Sullivan declined to be more specific, saying she didn't know the exact details involving how the gun was obtained. She said no information would be available Wednesday beyond what was in a mid-afternoon news release on the shooting.

In court earlier Wednesday, a judge ruled that the teen charged in Walker's death will remain in juvenile detention.

"I couldn't see it no other way," the girl's mother, Lisa Walker, said by phone. "And for his safety as well."

Her daughter was well-liked in the neighborhood and some people are angry, Walker said.

She said she forgives the boy but still thinks those who allowed the gun to find its way into the hands of a juvenile should be punished. Police said at this time, no charges related to the gun are pending.

During the hearing, public defender Amina Matheny stood by the boy's mother in Chesapeake Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court and asked Judge Eileen Olds to allow him to return to his home under constant supervision. Walker shook her head at that as she stood a few feet away next to prosecutor David Whitted.

The defendant was not in the courtroom but appeared live on a screen and could hear the proceedings. He was not asked questions and did not speak. A probation officer said the youth has been well-behaved and soft-spoken while at the juvenile detention center in Chesapeake.

Whitted asked that he remain in custody, given the seriousness of the crime.

Olds ruled against his release, saying his supervision at home had not been adequate before the crime.

The Deep Creek Middle School student will have a mental health evaluation before his next hearing, scheduled for Feb. 21.

According to witnesses, on the evening of Jan. 10, the boy was showing off a gun to friends standing outside at the Owens Village housing complex in Deep Creek. He pointed it at his own head and then at Carolyn's head. That's when it discharged.

Authorities have not yet said if reports that he had carried the gun around for several days and had even taken it to school are accurate. School officials said there had been no report of a student with a gun.

The Deep Creek Ruritan Club is holding a pancake breakfast at 8 a.m. Saturday to raise money to defray the cost of Carolyn's funeral.

Pilot writer Veronica Gonzalez contributed to this report.

Jeff Hampton, 252-338-0159, jeff.hampton@pilotonline.com