1/5/2023
According to a police report, a 9-year-old boy pointed a gun at his head and accidentally shot himself inside a crowded Washington Heights home on New Year’s Day.
According to the report, another child told investigators that Jarvis Watts was playing with the gun when it went off Sunday evening inside a bedroom at the home in the 9400 block of South Wallace Street.
Jarvis died from multiple gunshot wounds, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office, and his death was ruled a homicide. Police have classified the shooting as a death investigation rather than a homicide investigation.
According to the report, another person at the scene told police she had no idea there was a gun inside the house. Officers discovered no firearm.
According to a second police report, they did discover a spent.45-caliber shell casing and an unused.40-caliber casing.
Several people were inside the house at the time of the shooting, including adults and children, and a 27-year-old man fled before police arrived.
The two reports contain some contradictory information about when the gunfire began.
According to one report, a witness heard a “loud pop” from upstairs and then discovered the boy on the floor. Someone said in the other report that they told the kids to get dressed and then heard screaming.
That’s when Jarvis is said to have collapsed on the living room floor after falling down the stairs.
To honor Jarvis, family and friends gathered on Tuesday and released balloons near his home.
