Teenager Charged as an Adult After his Girlfriend’s Sister Dies from his Loaded Gun

A teenager from Indiana has been charged as an adult with four felony charges after his girlfriend’s sister was fatally shot with a loaded gun that he kept within her reach, according to the authorities. The defendant allegedly said that the gun was a toy while he was storing it.

An 18-year-old from Indiana, identified as Jacob Olvera, was charged with four felonies in connection with the fatal shooting of a 10-year-old, according to the authorities. The victim has been identified as Sophia Burks, who died of a gunshot wound on February 7th.

According to a criminal complaint reviewed by Law&Crime, police said Olvera brought a gun to his girlfriend’s house days before the incident occurred, and told people, including the children living there, that the gun was a BB gun. He reportedly left the gun in his girlfriend’s bedroom, where the victim found it.

According to the complaint, the police responded to the home where Sophia’s family lived, in Mishawaka, Indian, after they received a call about a shooting. After the officers arrived, they found Burks in her sister’s bedroom in the home’s basement, dead from a gunshot wound. The gun was found on the bed.

The victim’s mother told the police that she heard a loud bang right before her son ran upstairs to tell her that Burks “had been shot.” She immediately ran to her daughter’s side and found her with severe injuries. Police spoke to Burks’ elder sister, who was dating the defendant.

She told the police that about a week before the shooting, Olvera came to her family’s house with the gun and told her and the other children “that the gun was a BB gun or a toy.” Sophia’s sister told the police that she handled the gun herself with the children present, thinking it was not a real gun.

On the day of the incident, Burks’ sister said Olvera came to the home with a “heavy” backpack, which he placed in her bedroom under a table. This was shortly before the shooting took place. Olvera, his girlfriend and her grandfather left the home, leaving the backpack unattended.

Police said Burks’ sister acknowledged that Olvera “lied about the firearm being a toy” and said he should never have brought it to her family’s house.

When police questioned Olvera, he denied that he had brought a real firearm to his girlfriend’s home. He said he previously bought a BB gun. The police told him that the gun found in his girlfriend’s bedroom was a real firearm, and it did not belong to her grandfather. Olvera was reportedly “unable to explain” how a real firearm ended up in his girlfriend’s bedroom. He then invoked his right to counsel and stopped speaking to the police.

According to the complaint,t the police searched Olvera’s home and found several firearm-related items,” including a handgun and a firearm conversion switch. A fire conversion switch is a device designed to convert a semi-automatic firearm into a fully automatic firearm, which constitutes a machine gun under Indiana law.

Olvera was 17 years old at the time, which made his alleged possession of anything related to a firearm illegal. He was charged as an adult with criminal recklessness committed with a deadly weapon, dangerous possession of a firearm by a child, and two counts of possession of a machine gun. He is presently in custody at St. Joseph County Jail.