Tragic Incident: 12-Year-Old from Tennessee Charged with Cousin’s Murder Over iPhone.

Tennessee: A 12-year-old girl from Humboldt, has been charged with first-degree murder after smothering her 8-year-old cousin, while she was asleep. And also charged with tampering the evidence of the crime.

The incident took place on July 15, within the two of them sharing a bedroom at their grandmother’s home, over an argument about an iPhone. Gibson District Attorney Frederick Agee indicated that the act of cold violence was caught on a security camera in the bedroom.

The video shows the older girl throwing bed linens onto her cousin, suffocating her while the younger sister was asleep on the top bunk, the sheriff’s press release states. Once the child was deceased, the 12-year-old directed the victim to lay down and then she cleaned up the scene, placing the blankets back as they were before.

A relative expressing about the incident, told that the girls had been arguing over an iPhone, once that they had come out of town to their grandmother’s house. The argument, unfortunately, was the reason that led to the fatal incident at first place.

Authorities gathered video evidence of the incident on Wednesday, which in turn led to the filing of the charges against the juvenile. “I consider this to be one of the most disturbing violent acts committed by either an adult or juvenile that my office has prosecuted,” Agee said.

He also further stated that he will ask the judge to find that the 12-year-old should be tried as an adult, which might result in a longer sentence, either by imprisonment or court-monitored probation. The girl will turn thirteen later this month.

The case has shaken the local community, deepening tough questions about juvenile crime and the right legal response. The severe charges against the child for the heartbreaking loss of a young life, drive home the emotionally charged nature of these cases and the complications that follow. Whichever way things eventually turn out in a court of law, the effect on the involved families and our community will be deep and long-lasting.