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MILLCREEK — A teenager was killed by his brother when a gun accidentally discharged during a "brief struggle" over the handgun in Millcreek Canyon Friday afternoon, police say.
About 2:30 p.m. on Friday officers responded to a trailhead near 4800 East Millcreek Canyon Road after receiving reports of a male with a self-inflicted gunshot wound, according to jail documents.
Responding officers found a spent shell casing near the victim, but no weapon, according to jail documents. After a search, investigators found the weapon about 50 feet away from the body.
Investigators ultimately learned that two young brothers had engaged in a "brief struggle" over a handgun when the firearm accidentally discharged, striking the teenage boy, according to Unified police detective Kevin Mallory.
Citizens on site began to provide medical assistance, but the 17-year-old passed away by the time medical crews and police officers arrived, Mallory said.
“We contacted our violent crimes unit, who came over and took over the investigation" which is ongoing, he added.
Police took Emilio Madrigal-Rios, 19, into custody and booked him into jail for investigation of manslaughter and obstruction of justice, according to Mallory.
When interviewed about the crime, Madrigal-Rios said he and his brother were fighting in the trailhead parking lot, according to jail documents. Madrigal-Rios was carrying a handgun that was his brother's in his shirt pouch pocket and, despite demands to give the gun back, Madrigal-Rios refused to return it, jail documents say.
The brothers broke into a physical struggle over the gun during which they both held onto the gun at the same time in an attempt to keep the other from taking it, according to jail documents. A shot was fired during the struggle, which hit and killed the victim, documents say.
Madrigal-Rios told investigators he threw the weapon away from the scene once he realized his brother had been shot in the struggle, according to jail documents.
Further details, including the victim's identity, were not immediately available.
Contributing: Dan Bammes, KSL Newsradio
