Background: News footage of the home in Lawrenceville, Ga., where Nina Ramirez was shot and killed on Oct. 9 (WSB). Inset (left): Sebastian Prestridge (Gwinnett County Jail). Inset (right): Nina Ramirez (GoFundMe).
A Georgia teenager is behind bars after police said he shot his girlfriend in the head during a sleepover at her home.
Sebastian Prestridge, 19, was charged with involuntary manslaughter in the shooting that occurred after midnight on Thursday. Prestridge”s girlfriend, Nina Ramirez, also 19, was shot in the head by Prestridge at her family home in Lawrenceville, Georgia, police said.
In an interview with local ABC affiliate WSB, Ramirez’s mother said the two were “playing” with a gun they did not realize was loaded.
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According to police, officers from the Lawrenceville Police Department responded to a report that a teenage girl had been “shot in the head by her boyfriend.” When they arrived at the scene before 1:30 a.m., they found Nina Ramirez with a gunshot wound to the head. Emergency medical personnel pronounced her dead at the scene.
Prestridge was at the scene when police arrived and remained there as he cooperated with police. He was eventually detained and charged with one count of involuntary manslaughter.
Maria Carmen Ramirez told WSB that her daughter and Prestridge were having a sleepover at her family’s home with a group of other friends. They were reportedly passing around a gun that belonged to one of the friends and “playing with the gun,” not realizing that it was loaded.
Despite his alleged actions, Maria Carmen Ramirez told WSB that she was not angry at Prestridge, saying that “he loved” her daughter. She said, “When you get mad and these things happen, you want to find someone guilty, but I think it was just an accident.”
In a Facebook post, Captain Dena Pauly of the Lawrenceville Police Department said the events surrounding Nina Ramirez’s death were “an incredibly tragic situation, and our hearts go out to the victim’s family and loved ones.”
Prestridge is currently being held at the Gwinnett County Jail without bond.
