Church will fund funeral for 4-year-old shot by brother, while mom’s in jail

EAST ORANGE — A local church says it will pay for the funeral expenses of a 4-year-old boy fatally shot in the head by his older brother on Saturday.

"The fact that the mother is in jail, a 4-year-old is dead and a 5-year-old is responsible is a tragedy, and our church wants to be there to support and help them,” the Rev. Dwight Gill told News 12 Monday.

Christopher Lassiter, 4, was shot by his five-year-old brother this weekend using a gun belonging to his mother.  Itiyanah Spruill, 22 — who'd already had history of arrests for other matters — was arrested on Saturday night in connection with the shooting on charges of endangering the welfare of a child and a weapons violation. She is being held in lieu of $310,000 bail and will be arraigned on Tuesday morning, according to Essex County Prosecutor's Office spokeswoman Katherine Carter.

It wasn't immediately known how the older boy — initially described as 6 years old by the prosecutor's office but described as 5 years old in most reports — got the gun. The older boy has been released to the custody of his grandmother, according to NJ Advance Media.

A woman identifying herself as the sister-in-law of the boys' grandmother created a GoFundMe account to help pay for a funeral, which News 12 reported would be Friday. Authorities had not released the boys' names, but Mika Shirele Richardson identified the younger boy as Christopher on the page.

"I understand the concerns and questions," she wrote. "Whatever that amount (donars can give) is, we are one step closer to laying sweet angel to rest. No one can prepare for an untimely death. It break(s) everyone hearts to lose a child or love(d) one."

As of Monday evening, the fundraiser had collected more than $1,700.

The Associated Press contributed to this report