Prosecutor: Wheelchair Bound Newark Boy, 8, Shot Himself Dead With Uncle's Gun

Two people were in custody and one at large after an 8-year-old Newark boy who was disabled and wheelchair bound shot and killed himself with a relative's gun he found in the house over the weekend, authorities announced Tuesday.

Shaneefah Allen, 43, (left), Jahnaya Black, 23, (top right), and Marquis Wright, 18 (bottom right).
Photo Credit: *Essex County Prosecutor's Office*

Nicole Acosta

08/31/2021 5:05 p.m.

Officers responded to the 100 block of Schuyler Avenue Sunday night on a report of an 8-year-old boy suffering from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, according to Acting Essex County Prosecutor Theodore N. Stephens, II, and Newark Public Safety Director Brian A. O’Hara.

Jahmeer Allen, who was disabled and in a wheelchair, succumbed to his injuries.

At the time of the incident, there was a 10-year-old in the house and Jahnaya Black, 23, the victim’s aunt, who was sleeping, authorities said.

Investigators allege that the boy's uncle, Marquis Wright, 18, brought the gun into the apartment and left it unattended.

Shaneefah Allen, 43, the grandmother and legal guardian of the victim, and Black, have both been charged with second-degree endangering the welfare of a child.

Allen was not home at the time of the shooting.

Wright was charged with second-degree unlawful possession of a weapon; third-degree endangering the welfare of a child; third-degree transporting a manufactured firearm without a serial number and the disorderly persons offense of allowing a minor access to a loaded firearm.

The two women are in custody while Wright remains at large.

Anyone with information is asked to contact the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office Homicide/Major Crimes Task Force at 1-877-TIPS-4EC or 1-877-847-7432.

Editor's note: A previous version of this story said that the victim was a girl, which was inaccurate. The victim was a boy, authorities confirmed.

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