Teen charged in St. Paul shooting death

A 16-year-old St. Paul boy has been charged with second-degree manslaughter for allegedly shooting another teen in the head on Thanksgiving morning, killing him.

The Ramsey County Attorney's Office charged the 16-year-old on Tuesday by juvenile petition. Prosecutors are seeking to try him as an adult.

They say he shot 15-year-old Darion Joseph Smith, after a group of friends had been playing Russian roulette with an unloaded .22-caliber handgun. According to the criminal complaint, a witness heard the suspect say he didn't know the gun was loaded when he fired at Smith.

The 16-year-old was also charged in a separate juvenile petition with two counts of second-degree assault for allegedly firing shots into an occupied home one night earlier.

An adult, 19-year-old Daniel T. Cornell, is also charged in the case.

(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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