BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — 16-year-old Kywan Cottman was shot and killed on Fisher Street in Buffalo Friday.
"How much could you say about a 16-year-old that lost his life? He didn't grow up yet, you know?" Larisha Norman, Cottman's mother, said.
Norman said Cottman was a goofy kid around his friends.
"With me he's calm, cool and laid back. When he's with his friends, he was a different way. He was fun, loud, playful," Norman said.
Kel Leed Alexander is charged with Manslaughter in the Second Degree for the shooting on Fisher Street.
"I'm using the word playing generically here. In the course of playing with a gun, the gun went off. We have a 16-year-old young boy here who was hit in the left side of the head and died. This is beyond tragic," Erie County District Attorney John Flynn said.
"This man is 21. My son is 16. Why are you playing with guns with a minor? He's 16. You're 21. You're grown. At that point, you know better," Norman said.
Now, Cottman's family is left wondering what his future could have been.
"He was working on a clothing line," Norman said.
Flynn said this case is an example of what community leaders call a growing trend.
"We are seeing a significant increase, in the past two years, in not only the number of young people who are charged with gun violence, but also a significant increase in the number of victims who are young of gun violence," Flynn said.
