An Indiana teenager will face adult charges after police say he left a loaded gun within reach of his girlfriend’s little sister, who was fatally shot.
Jacob Olvera, 18, faces four felony charges in connection with the fatal shooting of 10-year-old Sophia Burks, who died of a gunshot wound on Feb. 7. According to a criminal complaint reviewed by Law & Crime, Olvera brought a gun to his girlfriend’s house days before the incident and told several people — including the children living there — that it was a BB gun. He left the weapon in his girlfriend’s bedroom, where Sophia later found it.
According to the complaint, police responded to the Mishawaka, Indiana home where Sophia’s family lived after receiving a report of a shooting. Upon arrival, officers discovered Sophia in her sister’s basement bedroom, dead from a gunshot wound. The gun was found on the bed.
Sophia’s mother told police she heard a loud bang moments before her son ran upstairs to tell her Sophia “had been shot.” She immediately rushed to her daughter and found her with severe injuries.
Police spoke with Sophia’s older sister, who was in a relationship with Olvera. She told officers that about a week before the shooting, Olvera brought the gun to her family’s home and told her and the other children “that the gun was a BB gun or a toy.” Believing it was not real, she handled the gun herself in front of the children.
On Feb. 7, Sophia’s sister said Olvera arrived at the home carrying a “heavy” backpack, which he placed in her bedroom under a table. Shortly before the shooting, Olvera left the home along with his girlfriend and her grandfather, leaving the backpack unattended.
Sophia’s sister acknowledged to police that Olvera “lied about the firearm being a toy” and said he should never have brought it to her family’s home.
When police questioned Olvera, he denied bringing a real firearm to his girlfriend’s house, claiming he had previously brought a BB gun. Officers informed him that the gun recovered from his girlfriend’s bedroom was real and did not belong to her grandfather. Olvera was reportedly “unable to explain” how a real firearm ended up there. He then invoked his right to counsel and stopped talking to police.
According to the complaint, police searched Olvera’s home and discovered several “firearm-related items,” including a handgun and a firearm conversion switch — “a device designed to convert a semi-automatic firearm into a fully automatic firearm, which constitutes a machine gun under Indiana law.” Since Olvera was 17 years old at the time, his alleged possession of any firearm-related items was illegal.
Olvera was charged as an adult with criminal recklessness committed with a deadly weapon, dangerous possession of a firearm by a child, and two counts of possession of a machine gun. He remains in custody at the St. Joseph County Jail on a $25,000 bond, with his next court date set for June 17.
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