In a quiet Deep Creek neighborhood in Chesapeake, Virginia, the laughter of children playing was tragically silenced on the evening of January 10, 2012. That evening, 12-year-old Carolyn 'Cee Cee' Alberta Walker was with a group of friends on Geneva Avenue when a sound, initially mistaken for a firecracker, pierced the air. Moments later, Cee Cee was found on the ground, unresponsive, with a fatal bullet wound to her forehead.
A neighbor who rushed to the scene found her with a faint pulse, her chest no longer rising and falling.
The investigation into the young girl's death quickly focused on a 13-year-old boy who was present at the scene. Initially, the boy denied any involvement in the shooting. However, he later admitted to having the gun. He told investigators that he and Cee Cee had been playing 'Russian Roulette' when the firearm discharged. The Chesapeake police recovered the weapon shortly after the incident at the boy's home.
The narrative of a game gone wrong was contested by Carolyn's mother, who insisted her daughter never handled the gun. Her assertion was supported by the lack of Cee Cee's fingerprints on the weapon. The investigation revealed that the gun had been given to the 13-year-old by another child, without the owner's knowledge or consent. No charges were brought against the owner of the firearm or their child.
The legal proceedings that followed saw the now 14-year-old boy plead guilty to a charge of involuntary manslaughter. Rejecting a defense request for probation, the judge committed the teenager to the custody of the state Department of Juvenile Justice. While the legal system deemed this a just consequence for a reckless act, for Cee Cee's family, the sense of justice remained elusive, as they believed an adult should have been held accountable for the accessibility of the firearm that ended their daughter's life.
