In Monte Vista, Colorado, a 14-year-old girl was shot and killed while filming videos for TikTok on August 7, 2022. The Monte Vista PD arrived at a residence on Monroe Street around 3:30 PM after receiving a call about the shooting incident.
Colorado Teenager Shot and Killed While Filming TikTok Videos
After clearing the residence, the police found a girl unresponsive with gunshot wounds. Emergency services would pronounce the girl dead at the scene. According to KUSA-TV, the victim was Aaliyah Salazar (14).
By August 11, an investigation into the shooting would see two females get charged with reckless manslaughter and possession of a handgun. The more notable arrest was of Emiliano Vargas (21) as he is the only named suspect at the moment. He was the owner of the gun used in the shooting but was at the shooting itself.
Vargas was arrested for failing to securely store his firearm and unlawfully providing or permitting a juvenile to possess a handgun. Basically, even though he wasn’t there when Salazar was shot and didn’t shoot her himself, his failure to keep his gun out of the reach of kids was the same as him just giving them the gun.
Documents surrounding the investigation explain what happened that resulted in Aaliyah’s death and it all comes down to “juveniles handling the gun and making videos on TikTok.” According to one of the kids, they took the clip out of the firearm and the gun fired.
Also, it was explained that Vargas tends to leave his gun in plain sight and unsecured in the same location in the house. One of the children said that the 21-year-old allowed them to have access to the gun because he viewed them as trustworthy.
Another part of this story is that some of Salazar’s family believes that the shooting was intentional. However, there isn’t enough here to really delve into that side and it seems like the family knows more about Aaliyah’s relationship with the two juveniles to mention this being done purposely.
What do our readers think? Is there something else here that would make this an intentional shooting or is this a case of everyone involved having access to guns without being remotely responsible? Do you believe something else will come out about the shooting in the coming weeks?
Share your thoughts on this in the comments.
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