NORFOLK, Va. — Sunday started out as a day watching football with a group of friends for 14-year-old Amir Burnett. A sports fanatic and athlete himself, Burnett's mother said her son had just made it on his school's football team.
However, the day took a violent turn when Burnett got shot while at a home in the Crown Point Townhomes complex on Wyngate Drive and died hours later at the hospital.
In newly filed court records obtained by 13News Now, detectives said Albert Sutton told them he was spending time with a group of teenagers, including Burnett, at the Crown Point Townhomes, when he showed them his gun on Sunday.
That's when he tried putting the gun away and a round went off, hitting Burnett in the torso. The Norview Middle School student died later at the hospital.
Detectives said Sutton left the townhome complex after the shooting and returned when officers requested him back to the scene. They said Sutton told them he did not mean for his gun to go off, calling the entire situation "a mistake."
Burnett's mother, Ny'Shell Traynham, told 13News Now Monday she wants to see Sutton face more serious charges.
"I believe he should get everything he deserves," Traynham said. "As me being a grieving mom, my baby's never coming back. Whether he gets 10 years, 20 years, or 100 years, my baby is still never coming back."
Kenneth Wilkins lives in the neighborhood where the shooting happened. He also spoke to 13News Now, saying he's growing numb to all of the shootings happening in Norfolk. He said people with guns need to be more responsible, especially around children. He called the situation heartbreaking.
"It's just getting too dangerous," said Wilkins as he huffed. "People are struggling and we need help out here. It's just a bad situation."
Sutton's address was listed as a different location than where the shooting occurred. It is still unclear how he got the gun or how he knew the group of teenagers he had spent time with leading up to the shooting.
The 27-year-old faces an involuntary manslaughter charge and a reckless use of a gun charge. We reached out to Sutton through Norfolk City Jail to learn more about what happened, but he declined our request to speak with him.
He was arraigned in Norfolk Juvenile Court Tuesday morning and remains in Norfolk City Jail without bond.