Teen from Oshawa killed in apparent gun prank in Indiana

A 14-year-old boy originally from Oshawa is dead after an alleged prank went wrong near his home in Indianapolis, Ind., this week.

On Tuesday evening, Nicholas King went to visit his best friend, who apparently wanted to show off a 7.62-calibre rifle the friend’s older stepbrother had bought on Craigslist

When Nicholas arrived, the 15-year-old friend reportedly tried to scare him by pointing the gun at him and pulling the trigger.

A round went off and hit Nicholas in the neck.

The stepbrother called 911, but paramedics couldn’t save Nicholas and he died at the scene.

“My first emotion is my son is gone and it was a senseless act that caused it,” the victim’s father Maxwell King told CityNews, “It’s not something that you can prepare yourself for.”

About 60 people gathered for a prayer vigil at Beech Grove Park in Indiana to remember the teen.

Friends described him as a fun-loving guy who loved sports and dreamed of becoming an aircraft mechanic.

“He loved following hockey. He played hockey when we lived in Oshawa. He was always able to find some way to get out of doing his homework,” his father said.

During their investigation, the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department seized as evidence the loaded rifle, which they found on the kitchen table, and the spent round, which sat behind a sofa.

The friend — who says he didn’t know the gun was loaded — has been charged with reckless homicide and is in a juvenile detention centre. He can’t be identified because of his age. Police charged his 18-year-old stepbrother, Kevin Edwards, with criminal recklessness.

Viewings for Nicholas are scheduled for next Friday and Saturday in Oshawa, with the funeral to follow immediately after at the Thornton Cemetery.

“Nick will be missed and remembered as a vivacious comedian,” reads an obituary on the Oshawa Funeral Home website. “He enjoyed making people laugh, especially those that he loved, and would go out of his way to see a smile on someone’s face.

“Nick loved the Detroit Red Wings, his homeland of Canada and avoiding his homework. His goal was to one day become an airplane mechanic because ‘planes are really cool.’”

According to a report in the Toronto Star, the King family moved to Indianapolis in 2004 after Nicholas’ father was transferred there for work.

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