A 12-year-old is recovering in the hospital tonight after he was shot in the face by his friend.
Camden Metro Police Chief Scott Thomson describes this as a "senseless tragedy."
The 11-year-old boy who pulled the trigger was taken into police custody, but then released. Police say he was extremely scared and terrified about what happened.
Police were called to the scene of the shooting around 8 a.m. at an apartment at the Crestbury Apartments on the unit block of Hunter Street in Camden, N.J.
The boys were on their way to school at H.B. Wilson Elementary school.
The victim's sister talked with NBC10's Monique Braxton. "He hit the wall. He was like 'please God save my life. Please God save me. And if I die, please let me go to heaven,' " said Nashaya Anderson, who says the boys were playing around.
Anderson says the gun belonged to her 19-year-old brother who was not home at the time of the shooting. "It was in the house for protection," said Anderson.
Police aren't saying yet if that gun was registered or stolen.