13-year-old Malachi Hemphill was live streaming from Instagram Live when he accidentally shot and killed himself as 40-50 of his friends watched in horror. One of the streamers on his Live feed asked why he didn’t have a clip in the gun and told him to put a clip in the gun. When he put the clip in the gun, that is when the gun went off.
“I heard a big boom,” Shaniqua Stephens, the mother of the victim, told 11 Alive. “I couldn’t tell if it was a gunshot or what, but I knew something was wrong.”
The family of Malachi got unexpected help from retired NBA hall-of-famer Shaq, when he stepped in to help ease the burden on Shaniqua Stephens’ family by offering to pay for the funeral costs, as the young man was uninsured.
“No mother should have to go through this,” Shaq said to 11 Alive. “I can only imagine the pain that she and all of Malachi’s family must be feeling. I just wanted to do what I could to help them at such a terrible time.”
