Colorado teen, Premila Lal, shot and killed in ‘prank gone wrong’
A Colorado teen was shot and killed Friday evening after a prank on a friend went horribly wrong.
Premila Lal
Police say that Premila Lal, age 18, and a cousin planned to scare her 15-year-old brother and an older friend, Nerrek Galley, by making noise and jumping out of a closet.
When Galley thought there was an intruder wandering the house, he opened fire, fatally injuring Lal.
“They somehow entered the house and my son and Nerrek didn’t know it was them,” Lal’s father, Pravenn, told KDVR. “After she was shot, then Nerrek realized it was Premila.”
Galley, 21, rushed Lal to Longmont United Hospital, where she was later pronounced dead.
“We can characterize this young women’s death as unintended and extremely tragic,” Cmdr. Jeff Satur, Longmont police spokesman, told the Denver Post.
“I heard a girl screaming from inside the house. So, I looked out and I saw them coming out. There were three guys and a girl. And they were all running out of the house, screaming, ‘Hurry, hurry. We`ve got to go,’” said neighbor Elaine Haddox in the KDVR.
Galley has been arrested, suspected of child abuse, reckless endangerment and permitting a juvenile to have a firearm, according to an arrest report Satur provided to the media late Saturday morning.
Satur said those potential charges stem from Galley allegedly having allowed Lal’s 15-year-old brother to have a handgun in his possession without the permission of the boy’s parents, which Satur said is a felony under Colorado law.
