On Thursday, Wisconsin teens Keller McQuay and his girlfriend, Vista Jackson, were inside Keller's Racine home when a sawed-off shotgun discharged. Keller reportedly ran from the home saying, "Oh my God, I just shot Vista."
On Monday, Keller, 14, was charged as an adult in the shooting death of Vista, also 14.
According to WMTV, Keller is facing charges of first-degree reckless homicide, possession of a firearm by a felon, and possession of a short-barreled rifle or shotgun in Vista's death.
"I don't know where he got the gun from," Keller's stepfather, the Rev. David Z. Williams Sr., told the Journal Times. "My daughter tell[s] me there was no arguing, no fighting."
Williams told the Racine County Eye that he didn't believe Keller would have intentionally shot Vista and added that he believed the teen may have armed himself because of a local street gang. "It was an accident because these two loved each other," he told the newspaper. "He's mourning her loss."
Keller's stepsister was returning home when her stepbrother reportedly ran from the house. She told police that she didn't see the shooting but heard a loud "pop" when she was outside.
According to the Journal Times, the girl went inside the home and found Vista on the floor with a gunshot wound to her face and neck. The girl called the police as Keller told her that he had the gun and he needed to leave, the newspaper reported. Keller was arrested Sept. 11 during a traffic stop of a vehicle in which he was a passenger. A woman who lives nearby found the gun in her yard and called police.
"He's just a kid himself. Why did he have a gun? It doesn't make sense," Vista's cousin Pam Knowlin told the Journal Times. "These kids have no regard for life, no remorse. If you take a life, you deserve to have your life taken, too. You don't deserve a slap on the wrist."
Keller is being held on $250,000 bail and a preliminary hearing in the case is set for next week.
"I believe he feels bad for what he's done," Vista's older sister Merrica McWhorter told Fox 6. "But he's got to suffer the consequences. My sister will never get her life back."