17-year-old killed at Gwinnett County extended-stay motel

GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. — A 17-year-old boy was shot and killed at an extended-stay motel in Gwinnett County early Friday, and a man has been arrested in connection with the incident, authorities said. 

Officers were called to the Live-In Lodge on Stone Mountain Highway shortly before midnight Thursday after the teen’s body was found in a motel room, according to police. The victim was inside a second-floor room when he was struck by a bullet that penetrated the wall from an adjacent room. 

Gwinnett County police said the shooting occurred when 31-year-old Shermarcus Cockran of Lilburn was cleaning a firearm he had recently brought back from a gun range. The weapon discharged, and the bullet traveled through the shared wall into the teenager’s room. 

Shermarcus Cockran, 31, is charged with involuntary manslaughter and reckless conduct.

Cockran was taken into custody and charged with involuntary manslaughter and reckless conduct, police said. The name of the juvenile victim has not been released.

Investigators processed the scene Friday morning as the medical examiner’s office worked to determine the official cause of death