New Details Emerge In Fatal Jenkintown Shooting Involving Teen Suspect

ABINGTON TOWNSHIP, PA — She had spent the weekend with her ex-boyfriend at his family's apartment in the township's Jenkintown section, according to court records.

Precious Hamilton had been in a romantic relationship with the teen, and they had known each other for several months, family members said. The relationship had ended, but the two remained friends, Hamilton stated in a criminal complaint.

By the time the weekend was over, her ex-boyfriend would be dead from a gunshot wound to the head, and Hamilton would be charged as an adult with third-degree murder and other offenses.

Meanwhile, authorities have not been able to find the handgun used in the shooting that Hamilton said she left in her mother's car.

The 15-year-old Hamilton, who lived in Delaware County, had come over to the apartment in the 100 block of Old York Road on Friday night, according to a probable cause affidavit. Authorities said she was there with her ex-boyfriend, a 17-year-old who had another girl staying over before she left the following day.

In reviewing surveillance footage from the victim's iPad, authorities said that Hamilton had brought a "cowboy-style," small-caliber black revolver handgun with her that she demonstrated by pointing it out of the 11th-floor apartment window and squeezing the trigger, the complaint said.

Authorities called this "dry firing" the handgun — which means firing the gun without ammunition.

On Monday morning, the victim's mother told him that Hamilton should leave, that she was going to run errands, and that he should lock the apartment door, the criminal complaint said.

Hours later, the mother returned to find the apartment unlocked and her son lifeless on the bedroom floor, bleeding from a gunshot wound to the back of the head, authorities said. She called 911 and began performing CPR on her son.

Hamilton was seen on video footage leaving the apartment alone at 3:22 p.m. on Monday for her home in Eddystone Borough, Delaware County, authorities said.

Hamilton told Abington Township Police and Montgomery County Detectives that she accidentally shot her ex-boyfriend with the handgun, which Hamilton told authorities she had stolen two months ago, and was loaded with three rounds of ammunition, according to the affidavit.

Hamilton told authorities she was lying on the bed with her ex-boyfriend, and the two began to "play around." Hamilton told authorities that she did not want to do so any longer and grabbed the cocked handgun that was underneath the bed.

Hamilton said she displayed the handgun "in a rapid fashion and was surprised when the revolver discharged, instantly striking the victim, the complaint states.

Hamilton said that she did not call 911 because she had panicked. Instead, she called her mother to take her home to Delaware County with the handgun inside her bag, authorities said.

She is currently awaiting a preliminary hearing, court records show.