17-year-old Candace Chrzan was killed after being shot Tuesday night in the backyard of a home in Mount Zion. An arrest was made and a 17-year-old boy was charged with involuntary manslaughter.
The Tragic Incident
Ashley Hulsey of the Carroll County Sheriff’s Office said that the incident involved four people who were at home shooting bottles. Chrzan possessed a .22-caliber pistol when it jammed. She handed the weapon to the 17-year-old boy, who attempted to unjam the gun.
The gun fired and fatally shot Chrzan in the head. Police report that she died on the scene.
The gun belonged to the family of the 17-year-old boy.
A second teenager was also arrested after authorities were alerted of him making threats via Snapchat to harm and shoot the 17-year-old suspect.
The sheriff’s office reports that the teen is 18 and was holding a gun in the Snapchat video. He was charged with felony terroristic threats.
Friends and family said that Chrzan was preparing to graduate from Mount Zion High School a few weeks from now.
“No family should ever have to bury a child at this age,” family friend Tiffany Cantrell told NBC affiliate WXIA-TV. “As you can imagine, this is one of the hardest things all of us have ever went through.”
“We don’t believe that guns kill people. We believe people kill people and whether there was foul play involved or not in this situation, that gun ended up in the hands of a minor who should not have had possession of that weapon,” Cantrell continued. “Somebody out there has to take responsibility and accountability for that.”
