A Wisconsin man was arrested after he allegedly admitted to accidentally shooting his stepson dead while showing off his guns to “look cool”.
Steven Merkel, 52, was charged with first-degree reckless homicide over the death of Michael Meagher at a Town of Geneva home.
Officers responded to the shooting at around 2:30 a.m. Monday and located the injured 8-year-old child who was rushed to a local hospital before succumbing to his injuries.
Merkel “seemed frantic and was covered in blood” at the scene. He reportedly admitted “he did something stupid, and it wasn’t (Meagher’s) fault.”
Asked why he was handling guns in the presence of Meagher, the suspect allegedly answered that it made him “look cool.”
He said that he took the magazine out of a 9mm handgun and walked out of the bedroom pointing it at the boy.
“Defendant stated that the defendant pulled the trigger and was expecting it to click, but instead it went ‘boom’ shooting Meagher.”
The stepdad also admitted he “drank two little drinks of rum and RC that evening.”
