In a tragic turn of events that shattered the quiet of a Fenton Township evening, 18-year-old Brady Morris, a male resident of Fenton, Michigan, lost his life on Saturday, March 4, 2017. He was at the home of a friend, 16-year-old Abdurrahman Ahmed Akl, in the 14000 block of Moffett Drive when the fatal incident occurred. Morris had been staying with the Akl family at the time.
That night, while other members of the Akl family were on the upper floors of the house, Morris and Akl were alone on the first floor. A 911 call was placed around 11 p.m., reporting that a teenager had been shot in the head. When Genesee County Sheriff's deputies arrived, they found Akl outside the residence and a semiautomatic pistol on the front porch. Inside, in a first-floor bedroom, they discovered Brady Morris unresponsive with a single gunshot wound to his head. He was rushed to Genesys Regional Medical Center in Grand Blanc Township, where he was pronounced dead.
The investigation that followed revealed a grim picture. An autopsy showed that Morris had been shot from behind at point-blank range on the top left side of his head. While the County Sheriff, Robert Pickell, noted that the two teenagers had a history of playing Russian Roulette, he did not believe they were engaged in the dangerous game at the time of the shooting. Akl was taken into custody at the scene.
Initially, Akl's attorney described the shooting as a tragic accident. However, prosecutors moved to charge the 16-year-old as an adult. He was arraigned on charges of murder, possessing a stolen firearm, and two felony firearm counts. In the subsequent 911 call recording, a distraught Akl could be heard screaming and telling the dispatcher that he had pointed a gun at his friend and killed him.
After a series of court proceedings, which included a competency exam for Akl, the case reached a resolution in August 2020. Akl, then 19, accepted a plea deal and pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of manslaughter, as well as a felony firearm count. He admitted in court that he and Morris had been playing with the gun when it discharged. He confessed to having smoked marijuana that night and to failing to check if the weapon was loaded before he pulled the trigger. In September 2020, he was sentenced to serve a minimum of four years and nine months to a maximum of 15 years in prison for manslaughter, with an additional consecutive two-year sentence for the felony firearm charge. He was also ordered to pay restitution.
