A 17-year-old Bronzeville boy playing with a gun apparently fatally shot himself in the head thinking the weapon was empty, police said this morning.
Malik Wiley, of the 4600 block of South Evans Avenue, was in his bedroom with friends Tuesday evening when he removed shells from a revolver, put them in his pants pocket, put the weapon to his head and pulled the trigger, his friends told police, said News Affairs Officer Laura Kubiak.
One bullet had not been removed.
Wiley was pronounced dead at 7:55 p.m. at Stroger Hospital, according to a spokeswoman for the Cook County medical examiner's office.
The shooting took place in the boy's bedroom in his family's apartment about 7:20 p.m.
The youth was taken to the hospital where he died, Police News Affairs Officer Ron Gaines had said earlier.