BY JANE PRENDERGAST
The Cincinnati Enquirer
NEWPORT -- An all-night party in Newport ended early Monday with one shot and one question: What was Brandon thinking?
For reasons police do not yet know, 15-year-old Brandon Abrams of Bromley picked up a handgun he and his friends found. Somebody loaded it. And he put it to his head and pulled the trigger.
Nothing happened.
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So he did it again. The second time, the gun worked.
The shot resulted in an ambulance ride to the emergency department at University Hospital shortly after 4 a.m. He remained in critical condition there later Monday after surgery.
The Joyce Avenue home where the shooting took place belongs to former Newport City Commissioner Laura Roberts and her husband, Ray, who apparently were not home and had Brandon, a grandson, housesitting. No one answered the door or the phone at the home Monday.
Brandon had invited other teen-agers over, police said. No adults were present -- unless you count the 18-year-olds also at the party, said Lt. Pat Moore, assistant commander of the police department's operations division.
Investigators do not think Brandon was trying to kill himself. "It was something he did not plan," Lt. Moore said. "It was not a suicide attempt."
Police could give no more information, Lt. Jane Poynter said, including whether the Robertses or any parents would be charged. The boy's family did not want to talk to reporters, a hospital representative said.
The look of the small, brick house in Newport in Monday afternoon's sunshine belied what had happened there hours before. A flowered flag flew over the porch; the backyard pool looked inviting.
Several neighbors said the incident might have taken place in a large camper parked out back.
Detectives had not spoken to Brandon as of Monday afternoon, but Lt. Moore said all conversations with other teen-agers at the party led them to believe the boy was simply playing with the weapon. "Who knows?" he said. "Who knows why a teen-ager would do something like this?" "Who knows why a teen-ager would do something like this?' -- Lt. Pat Moore
