Local : Boy Charged With Involuntary Manslaughter in Girl’s Shooting

Prosecutors said today they have filed a charge of involuntary manslaughter against a 12-year-old boy accused of fatally shooting a 12-year-old girl in the Orange Mall amid throngs of Christmas shoppers.

Under the juvenile code, the boy could be held for a maximum of six years if the charges are resolved against him, according to Orange County Deputy Dist. Atty. John Conley.

Friends of the defendant said he had been showing off the .25-caliber pistol before the shooting Monday night. He showed the weapon to Jacalyn Calabrese, his friend since elementary school. She dared him to pull the trigger, and he did, killing her almost instantly, police alleged.

Conley said involuntary manslaughter was selected because the killing was not intentional, but the result of criminal negligence.

“That is defined as a negligent act which is aggravated, reckless and gross,” Conley said. “And the horseplay with the gun, even for a 12-year-old, seems to be aggravated, reckless and gross.”

A detention hearing for the boy is scheduled for later today.

Conley declined to say where the boy obtained the gun.

“This has left a big hole in my heart,” said the victim’s father, Al Calabrese. “The bottom line is whatever they do to him it’s not going to bring my daughter back. His punishment is that he has to live with this the rest of his life.”