Santa Paula family mourns 16-year-old boy Albert Borjas as shooting death is investigated as possibly accidental
A Santa Paula family is mourning the death of a 16-year-old boy who died in a shooting that is being investigated as possibly accidental.
The incident happened on Tuesday just after 12:30 p.m. at a home in the 400 block of Sycamore Street.
When officers arrived, they found 16-year-old Albert "Junior" Borjas with a gunshot wound to his upper body. The teen was treated at the scene then sent to a nearby hospital where he later died.
"As a standard procedure, the incident is being handled as a homicide," read a statement from the Santa Paula Police Department. "Detectives are looking into the possibility the wound may have been self-inflicted and also investigating how the minor accessed a loaded firearm."
Borjas' family said no one at the home owns a gun and don't know how the teen got a firearm.
"I think he was purely playing with a gun and he didn't think it was real or probably not loaded," said the boy's aunt, Lisa Navas. "I don't think he had much knowledge of guns and then it went off and that was it. Accidental or not, this is the result of that gun, of any gun violence, and we need to stress safety for guns."
Borjas was a student at Santa Paula High School. His family said he had a lot of friends and was active with his church's social group.
"Children having access to guns that causes serious injury or death .. it is the number one cause of death of children and teens in the United States," said Santa Paula Police Chief Don Aguilar. "We want to make sure people secure their weapons, store them safely, and save a life."
The incident remains under investigation.
