ST. LOUIS — The shooting happened Tuesday night, in north St. Louis.
12-year-old LaFrance Johnson died, when he was shot by his 10-year-old brother.
The boy was a middle school student in the Rockwood School district.
MaryAnn Jackson lives on Summit Place.
"Guns, here we go again, guns, guns, how is these babies getting these guns," Jackson said.
Jackson lives across the street where police say a 10-year-old boy shot his 12-year-old brother on Tuesday night.
"He was very in shock. He was crying but he was in shock, mostly in shock, like did this really happen?" Jackson said.
St. Louis University School of Law Professor Anders Walker has a background in criminal law and has seen similar cases all too often.
"These poor kids usually don't realize that the guns are loaded that the guns can go off that they can kill somebody so these are actually terrible, and they're not really crimes cause the kids don't really have a criminal intent," Walker said.
Aja Johnson, 36, took responsibility for the gun and the death of her 12-year-old nephew.
"Adults can face serious criminal penalties including things like child endangerment. If a child is injured or killed, it could be a class-A or a class-B felony, that could be life in prison," Walker said.
Prosecutors are charging Johnson with a class A misdemeanor for second-degree endangering the welfare of a child.
"They can charge as high or as low as they want. If they feel like this is a tragedy, the parties have taken responsibility, the parties are upset, then they might opt for a lighter charge. If they feel like they are dangerous people, these parents are abusers these parents are sociopaths then they might for a heavier charge to put them behind bars," Walker said.
Walker said these cases have ripple effects, oftentimes resulting with kids placed in foster care.
"Everyone thinks I'm going to have a gun to protect my family and then more often than not, it's a member of the family that ends up getting shot because no one adhered to gun safety," Walker said.
A class-A misdemeanor charge is the most serious misdemeanor offense carrying a maximum penalty of one year in jail and a $2,000 fine.
Walker said if parents know there is a firearm in the house, regardless of if they own it or not, they could be criminally liable.