Young Man Takes Selfie With Friend After Shooting Him Dead

2024 Author: Steven Freeman | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 08:15

Maxwell Morton, 18, took a selfie with his friend Ryan Mangan, 16, after killing him. The Pennsylvania boy has been sentenced to 15 to 30 years in prison for the crime. "Sometimes saying 'sorry' is not enough for people, but that is all I can give," Morton told the Pittsburgh Tribune Review newspaper.

According to Morton, he was playing with his friend with a weapon that he didn't know was loaded and shot him without knowing that he had bullets. She said she had only taken the selfie to document what had happened and had plans to commit suicide later.

Another Wisconsin teen friend of Morton's said the defendant had bragged about the murder that same night by playing a video game with him, saying he already "had his first body." This friend thought it was a joke until Morton sent him a link to the news and the selfie on Snapchat.

Morton's attorney, Pat Thomassey, argued at trial that Mangan's death had been an accident. He said the gun was one of several that Mangan had and that his parents did not know he had them, which was a factor in the tragedy. "This is about two kids playing with guns," he said. "If Maxwell hadn't panicked and done the stupid things he did and called 911, he probably wouldn't face charges," the attorney said.

A forensic pathologist revealed that Mangan did not die quickly and may have survived if he had received medical attention immediately. The judge in charge of the case, Meagan Bilik-Defazio, said Morton's decision to take a selfie instead of reporting the incident to authorities changed his verdict. "You look like a little boy to me and now I have to sentence you," said the judge. “The reality is that this case would be very different if it weren't for that photograph. No one will understand what you were thinking when you took that photo."