GA Boy Shot In The Head With Pellet Gun Dies, Teen Friend Charged

ATLANTA, GA — A 10-year-old Georgia boy has died at an Atlanta hospital after being shot in the head with a pellet rifle over the weekend.

According to a friend who launched a GoFundMe page for the family, CJ Patton was shot Sunday evening in Milledgeville and rushed to Atrium Health Navicent-Baldwin. He was ultimately airlifted to Children's Scottish Rite Hospital in Atlanta.

"He suffered severe brain damage already from the pellet itself, and eventually lost his pulse which created even more damage to the brain due to the lack of oxygen his brain was then receiving," Brittany Matheny, who created the online fundraiser, said.

Patton died Tuesday around 10:30 a.m., Matheny said.

According to WMAZ-TV, the US Marshals Fugitive Task Force served arrest warrants on Jamarius Walls, 17, Thursday morning. He's charged with one count of involuntary manslaughter.

Walls is said to be a friend of the family. Matheny described the shooting as "accidental" on the GoFundMe page she created. She's hoping to raise at least $15,000 to help the family pay for funeral expenses.

"Nobody was prepared for this day whatsoever, let alone the high costs of a funeral. As a mother, she is already having to endure the most heartbreaking situation a mother has to go through, and my hopes are to take this financial burden off her completely," Matheny said.

"Please continue to keep the family in your prayers as they are having to grieve and cope and learn how to live everyday life without their precious boy," she continued.

The circumstances leading up to the shooting were not immediately known.

To donate to the family's GoFundMe page, see below:

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