Erie teen charged as adult in shotgun killing of his 14-year-old girlfriend waives charges

Tim Hahn, Erie Times-News
·2 min read

A 16-year-old boy accused of handling a shotgun when it fired inside an Erie apartment in late October, killing his 14-year-old girlfriend, has waived the criminal charges he faces to court.

Riley R. Shearer, of Erie, a freshman at Erie High School, waived his preliminary hearing Thursday morning on the 10 criminal charges Erie police filed against him in the Oct. 29 shooting. The charges include involuntary manslaughter, a first-degree misdemeanor; two felony counts of aggravated assault; and misdemeanor counts of recklessly endangering another person and possession of a firearm by a minor.

More:Girl, 14, killed in Erie shotgun shooting identified; charges filed against boyfriend, 16

Shearer, who was charged as an adult in the shooting, remains free on $250,000 unsecured bond. Erie County Judge John J. Mead in November ordered Shearer to live with his mother and to be on electronic monitoring, citing in part Shearer's mental health issues.

Erie County Public Defender Nicole Sloane told Mead during a Nov. 18 interest-of-justice hearing for Shearer that Shearer has "struggled psychologically" since the shooting and received inpatient psychiatric treatment.

More:16-year-old in Erie manslaughter case 'traumatized' by grief, released to mom's custody

Shooting took place at a Chestnut Street duplex

Erie police accuse Shearer of handling a loaded shotgun inside an apartment of a duplex in the 1600 block of Chestnut Street on the evening of Oct. 29 when the gun fired and 14-year-old Audrey Maria Kellogg was shot in the head.

Riley R. Shearer, 16, charged with involuntary manslaughter and other offenses when his 14-year-old girlfriend was killed by a blast from a shotgun he was handling at a Chestnut Street apartment on Oct. 29, 2020, has waived his criminal case to court.
Riley R. Shearer, 16, charged with involuntary manslaughter and other offenses when his 14-year-old girlfriend was killed by a blast from a shotgun he was handling at a Chestnut Street apartment on Oct. 29, 2020, has waived his criminal case to court.

Audrey, an eighth-grader at Walnut Creek Middle School in Millcreek Township, was pronounced dead at the scene.

Investigators wrote in Shearer's criminal complaint that he was reportedly waving the gun around when it fired.

According to information in the complaint, the shotgun had been in a bedroom closet when Shearer picked it up and began handling it. One of the residents of the apartment took the gun away from Shearer, told him not to touch it, and placed it in another area of the bedroom, investigators wrote. Shearer later retrieved the gun again and was handling it when it fired and Audrey was shot, according to police.

Shearer told police after the shooting that he was attempting to "clear" the gun, or "believed that it was safe," when it fired, detectives wrote in the complaint.

More:Erie 16-year-old charged with involuntary manslaughter in shooting of 14-year-old girlfriend

Police said Shearer and Audrey were visiting the Chestnut Street duplex to hang out with friends. Four adults lived at the apartment, including a 19-year-old and a 21-year-old, investigators reported after the shooting.

The shotgun was legally owned by one of the residents of the apartment, investigators said. Police impounded the weapon after the shooting.

Contact Tim Hahn at thahn@timesnews.com. Follow him on Twitter @ETNhahn.

This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Erie teen waives charges in 14-year-old girlfriend's fatal shooting