- Kevin Flores Villa, 20, charged with manslaughter for brother's accidental shooting.
- Incident occurred April 25 in West Valley City during handgun mishandling.
- Flores Villa lacked formal gun training; claims he learned from YouTube.
WEST VALLEY CITY — A criminal charge was filed Friday against a West Valley man who says he accidentally shot and killed his brother while playing with a gun.
Kevin Flores Villa, 20, is charged in 3rd District Court with manslaughter, a second-degree felony.
On April 25, Flores called 911, stating that he and his brother, L.F.V., were messing around with a handgun. Flores ... didn't realize the magazine was in the handgun, he cocked the slide back and accidentally pulled the trigger. The handgun fired and a bullet struck his brother ... in the head," according to charging documents.
Court documents do not identify the victim, but according to a GoFundMe* account, 18-year-old Llaret Flores Villa died five days before his 19th birthday.
Another person in the home who was in another bedroom said the two brothers "were talking conversationally and playing around with the handgun. (Kevin Flores) then 'cocked' the handgun back and suddenly there was a gunshot," the charges state.
A second witness told police that the brothers "had taken the guns apart, put the guns back together and were pointing the guns' lasers at each other," according to the charges.
When questioned by police, Flores said he "decided to spook" his brother, so he "half-cocked the handgun back and pulled the trigger; nothing happened, so (Flores) believed it was empty. (Flores) then cocked it back and pointed it at L.F.V. (Flores) asked L.F.V. if he could feel the laser on his forehead. (Flores) said, 'Hey,' pointed the gun at (Llaret Flores') head and pulled the trigger. (Flores) stated that he heard an explosion and saw the bullet hit L.F.V.'s face," charging documents state.
He further told police that he had not taken any gun safety classes and claimed he had never shot a gun prior to this, and that he "mainly learned about guns from YouTube, and he knows how to take them apart and reassemble them," according to the charges.
*KSL.com does not assure that the money deposited into the account will be applied for the benefit of the persons named as beneficiaries. If you are considering a deposit to the account, you should consult your own advisers and otherwise proceed at your own risk.
