Family in mourning after teen accidentally shoots self
(Hartford-WTNH) _ A tragic story of playing with a gun has family and friends mourning the death of a 16-year-old boy. Friends say Juan Ortiz was goofing off with a gun Friday. He he pointed it away from himself pulled the trigger and nothing happened - then pointed it at himself and it discharged. He was pronounced dead three hours later.
News Channel 8's Jocelyn Sigue reports.

Family and friends spelled out their grief today over the stairway where 16-year-old Juan Ortiz took his last breath. The bars over the windows of his Hillside Avenue home couldn't protect him from what happened inside yesterday afternoon. His brother Miguel stands today in disbelief.

Miguel Ortiz, Brother: "All I say all the kids out there don't play with guns... it's bad."

Ortiz shot himself yesterday afternoon playing with a gun. He was hanging out with friends here at his mother's home. Police say he got the gun from a friend.

Ortiz: "He left behind a wife with a baby three months pregnant."

Friends say Ortiz was searching for a job knowing he would soon be a father. Now as the family grieves it wonders how it will bury the teen.

Friends did not tell us today where Ortiz got the gun or why. They did tell us that the police will not let anyone go back into the home. Police say they are still investigating.

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