A Brooklyn teen was killed early yesterday when he shot himself in the head while showing off a gun, police sources said.
James Morris, 18, was found dead with a gunshot wound to the left side of his head at around 3:15 a.m. in Brownsville after allegedly playing a dangerous game with three other people, the sources said.
A witness who was in the room told cops that Morris was showing his pals that he knew how to use the weapon. He aimed the revolver at each of them and pulled the trigger, cops said.
He then opened up the gun, spinning the cylinder to make sure there was no bullet in the chamber, sources said. Thinking it safe, he pointed the gun at his left temple and fired, killing him, the sources added.
Cops have not recovered the gun, and his family claims someone else shot him.
“That’s a lie; they were tussling,” said his sister, Jamie Morris, who said her father heard fighting in the next room. “They were fighting, and one of them shot my brother.”
“He was trying to say that my son put a gun to his head,” said the victim’s father, James McDuffie. “He would never do that. My son would never do that. It’s a lie.”
Morris had four priors — three of which were sealed — including one arrest for criminal possession of stolen property.
His brother, Marlon Smalls, insisted he just hung out with a bad crowd.
“He was just a good kid,” he said. “He really never got into any trouble.
“But some of the guys he hung out with around here, they have guns, stuff like that. But everyone liked him around there.”