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A Phoenix man had himself a Plaxico Burress moment and then some today when the gun he was playing with accidentally went off and he shot his 14-year-old brother in the face.
Responding to reports of a gunshot, police went to the area of 4700 E. Pollack, near 48th Street and Baseline Road in Phoenix, where they saw the 14-year-old victim sitting on a front porch holding a bloody towel to his face.
When officers asked the kid what happened, he told them his 20-year-old brother shot him in the face.
Phoenix police say the 14-year-old victim, who is not being identified, was taken to the hospital where he is expected to recover.
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His brother, Gabriel Roman Valenzuela, on the other hand, might not come away from the incident as unscathed as he was after the shooting.
Phoenix Police spokesman Luis Samudio says Valenzuela was “manipulating the weapon recklessly” when it discharged and a bullet hit his brother.
Samudio says it is unclear who owns the gun or where Valenzuela got it. What police do know is that he was holding it when it discharaged, so he is now facing endangerment, aggravated assault, criminal littering, liquor-possession, and open-container-in-a-vehicle charges, as well an unrelated probation violation.
Valenzuela was booked into the Maricopa County Jail.
