MONTANA — Billings police officers responded to a report of a shooting at 215 Alderson Ave. on Sundat, May 17. Officers located a 15 year old male with a gunshot wound at that location. The victim was transported to St. Vincent’s Hospital by AMR and was pronounced dead at the hospital a short time later.
15-year-old Mackeon Schulte and a friend went to another friend’s home around 2:30am, attempting to wake the other boy. They knocked on the window and threw small rocks in the attempt.
The boy woke up startled and says he did not recognize the two boys outside as his friends. He says he was scared. He then reached for a gun he kept in his bedroom and fired a shot through the window, striking Schulte in the head.
Schulte was a sophomore at Billings Senior High School.
Police are calling it an accidental shooting and have made no arrests; investigators and the county attorney’s office are discussing how to move forward. “This is a huge tragedy for Senior High and the district,” the superintendent tells the Gazette. “We’re just doing the best we can to make sure everyone is OK throughout this situation.”
Police were withholding the names and ages of the shooter and the uninjured friend because they are juveniles and no arrests have been made. Reports say the shooter was 17-years-old.
No arrests have been made by Billings Police Detectives. The investigation is ongoing.
From Child Trends: Suicide and homicide are the second and third leading causes of death, respectively, among teens ages 15 to 19, after unintentional injury. In 2013, firearms were the instrument of death in 87 percent of teen homicides and 42 percent of teen suicides.
While non-firearm injuries result in death in only one out of every 760 cases, almost one in four youth firearm injuries is fatal.
Although other teens are the perpetrators of many of the homicides of teens below age 18, two-thirds of the murderers are eighteen or older.[4] Although school-related homicides receive substantial media attention, in the 2010-11 school year they accounted for less than one percent of all child homicides.[5]
Mood disorders, such as depression, dysthymia, and bipolar disease, are major risk factors for suicide among children and adolescents. One study found that more than 90 percent of children and adolescents who committed suicide had some type of mental disorder. Stressful life events and low levels of communication with parents may also be significant risk factors.
Female teens are about twice as likely to attempt suicide; however, males are much more likely to actually commit suicide.
Photo of the victim via Facebook
