14-year-old charged in fatal shooting of Virginia boy, 12

PORTSMOUTH, Va. – A 14-year-old boy has been charged with voluntary manslaughter in the shooting death of a 12-year-old Virginia boy.

Portsmouth police did not identify the juvenile charged Tuesday in the death of 12-year-old Kemon Battle. The boy was shot on Dec. 21 and died the next day, about a month before his 13th birthday.

Police have released few details about what happened except to say the shooting was not a random act of violence.

De’Andre Barnes, a Portsmouth school board member who said Kemon was his cousin, told The Virginian-Pilot that police haven’t told the family exactly what happened. But he said the suspect was a friend of Kemon’s.

Kemon was a student at Cradock Middle School.