AMELIA COUNTY, Va. (WRIC) — Earlier this month, 8News reported on an incident in which a 16-year-old boy died after accidentally shooting himself in the shoulder on July 2 in Amelia County. Now, after further investigation, police have arrested a friend of the boy in connection to the incident.
The 16-year-old boy who died has since been identified as Lucas Hanna. His mother, Jennifer Wallace, told 8News that her son knew gun safety measures after growing up in a hunting family, and therefore would not hurt himself.
On Tuesday, July 26, police arrested Hanna’s friend, identified as a 17-year-old male, in connection to the shooting. According to the Amelia County Sheriff’s Office, he has been charged with voluntary manslaughter.
“I try to act strong around others, but I cry a lot,” Wallace said.
Wallace received a knock on her door the night police arrested the suspect.
“I opened it and it was two deputies,” she said. The officers then told Wallace that they had arrested her son’s 17-year-old friend.
“When they told me that he had just been arrested — the friend — I just felt relief. I just wanted justice for him [Hanna] from day one,” Wallace said.
8News previously reported that Wallace had dropped her son off on the night of Saturday, July 2, at his friend’s house. Amelia County Sheriff’s Office received a call not long after that, at 9:44 p.m., with a report that Hanna had been accidentally shot. Police arrived on the scene and tried to treat Hanna, but he died from his injuries.
Wallace has suspected that there was more to this story all along.
“A mother knows her child,” she said.
It was only a few weeks ago when 8News spoke with the suspect himself. He said Hanna had shot himself in the shoulder.
Wallace doesn’t understand why the suspect would shoot her son.
“This was a good friend of his [Hanna]. So, not only did my son lose his life but now this boy ruined his life over something that could have been prevented, you know?” she said.
Wallace is now left with the memories of her son, who she said was a sweet boy who loved lifting weights.
“He would always joke with his dad, like, ‘my muscles are bigger than yours.’ He loved to fish and hunt. The day that he had passed away, we went fishing that morning. He loved to fish,” she said.
Wallace laid her son to rest a few weeks ago and said it’s been hard without him.
“I just trust that justice is going to be served,” she told 8News.
Questions still remain about what caused the shooting and where the weapon came from.
The county sheriff’s office said the investigation into the case is ongoing.
