Teen allegedly shoots his hatchet wielding uncle in self-defense

CHOCTAW COUNTY, Miss. (WCBI) – A 16-year-old boy allegedly shoots his uncle, in self-defense.

The shooting happened in rural Choctaw County, on Tuesday afternoon.

Investigators say the uncle was wielding a hatchet on the teen’s front porch.

When deputies arrived, Jerry Lee Robinson was dead.

The juvenile is not being charged, at this time, because it appears he was defending himself.

“The bullet blowed him back and he laid, he fell, and laid right here.”

Rachel Cork said her 16-year-old son, shot and killed her husband’s brother, Jerry Lee Robinson, in the chest with a rifle.

“Yeah, my son defended himself. It could have been the other way around. It could have been my son, I’m the one I’m picking up and having to bury, but it wasn’t.”

Her son was home alone when the shooting happened.

“I just had left to go to work and I took my daughter with me, so when I left to go to work, I probably wasn’t gone from my house, just right up the road, and I guess he come over here, and tried to break in on my son, and my son shot him.”

Choctaw County Chief Deputy Lee Upchurch says the teen got a .270 rifle.

Then Robinson, armed with a hatchet, made an aggressive move towards him at the front door.

“Is that first time that he’s done anything like this?” Asks WCBI.

“No, that’s not the first time. I have some videos where he came into my yard with two machetes, threatening my husband, and everything.”

Deputies say Robinson made threats against the family just two weeks ago.

He lives steps away from their home.

“If there’s something he can’t have, he would get mad, and so he would come and take it out on us.”

The shooting happened in Bywy, which is less than 10 miles from Ackerman.

“Our hearts go out to the people in the community and we’re here to support in anyway that we can,” says Mayor Tim Cutts.

Cork said her son is still traumatized and is trying to cope with this shooting incident.

The case will be brought before a Grand Jury in August.