Boy, 13, Kills Twin in Tug of War Over Pistol

A 13-year-old North Hollywood boy accidentally shot and killed his twin brother while they were engaged in “a tug of war” over a pistol a baby-sitter left behind, police said.

Rory Bone, a student at Madison Junior High School in North Hollywood, was shot once in the head with a revolver and was pronounced dead at the home of a family friend in the 8000 block of Wilkinson Avenue where he was found lying in the family room, police said. Initial reports on Saturday night indicated that the boy had shot himself.

A man who answered the door at the home refused to give his name, but identified himself as the family friend who had been baby-sitting the twin brothers and their 12-year-old sister. He said he had told the boys not to touch the gun before he left the house Saturday night.

“I went through the whole speech in front of their mother,” he said. “My philosophy is don’t be afraid of it, but don’t abuse it. I guess that’s the wrong philosophy now. It was a stupid, tragic mistake.”

The baby-sitter said the boys were “like any brothers. They fought and they loved.”

He said he intended to take the gun with him and laid it beneath a coffee table. But he became distracted when he found one of the children playing with a computer and scolded the child.

“I forgot about the gun and left,” he said.

Police declined to give details of the shooting, but the baby-sitter said the boys were engaged in a tug of war with the gun.

“One of them pulled the gun and the other one pulled it back,” he said.

The boys’ sister was in the house when the shooting occurred.

No arrests have been made, police said, but investigators will refer the case to the district attorney’s office for review.