Florida authorities described a gruesome scene at a home where a 12-year-old boy fatally shot his younger brother and wounded an older brother before turning the gun on himself early Wednesday evening.
The murder-suicide involving the children was so "brutal," Pasco County Sheriff Chris Nocco said Thursday, that the responding deputies themselves are emotionally scarred.
"It was a horrific scene out there," the sheriff said at a news conference. The wounded 16-year-old — identified as Trevor Pimental — was taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, Nocco said.
"You have a 16-year-old who just saw something absolutely horrific, a living nightmare," Nocco said. He added: "He's grieving right now."
Investigators believe the shooting occurred after an argument while the two older boys were cooking at around 6:19 p.m. ET at the family's mobile home in Hudson, north of Tampa.
Trevor — along with brothers Kevin, 12, and Brady, 6 — were the only ones home at the time, Nocco said. Their mother, Helen Campochiaro, was at work, and an 18-year-old brother was also out.