Family of 8-Year-Old Shot in the Head by 11-Year-Old Announces Lawsuit Against Gun Owne

Family of 8-Year-Old Shot in the Head by 11-Year-Old Announces Lawsuit Against Gun Owner

Mar 20 – Apr 02, 2025

Jenesis Dockery, the eight-year-old Black girl shot and killed by an 11-year-old at her babysitter’s house.

The family of Jenesis Dockery, the eight-year-old girl shot and killed by an 11-year-old at her babysitter’s house, joined civil rights attorneys Harry Daniels and Chimeaka White on March 18 and announced their lawsuit against Chrystle Diane Michael, the babysitter whose 11-year-old son shot Dockery and the gun’s owner, Thomas Rosa Michael. According to the lawsuit, Michael, the shooter’s grandfather and gun owner, failed to report his Phoenix Arms Raven .25 automatic pistol as lost or stolen before the shooting.

The tragedy inspired the award-winning documentary Unsafe: North Carolina Kids Dying From Gun Violence.

The incident, which occurred in July 2023, shocked and appalled the Fayetteville community, sparking calls for accountability and new gun safety measures as questions about how the 11-year-old got the gun in the first place went unanswered. Since then, multiple children in North Carolina have died as a result of unsecured guns, including two already in 2025. On January 23, 2025, a 7-year-old in Kannapolis, NC, was shot and killed by her sibling. February 28, 2025, a 5-year-old girl died after being hit by another child who was playing with a gun inside a home.

“The simple fact is that if either Chrystle or Thomas Michael had taken their responsibilities seriously, Jenesis would be alive today,” said Daniels. “If Chrystle Michael had been supervising the children in her charge, she could have stopped her son from pulling the trigger. If Thomas Michael had secured his guns, there would have been nothing to shoot. Yet, neither of them have been charged for their negligence.”

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