Shaq To Pay For Funeral Of Teen Who Shot Himself On Instagram Live

Shaquille O’Neal has offered to pay for the funeral services of a Georgia teen who accidentally killed himself Monday while livestreaming a video on Instagram Live.

Malachi Hemphill, 13, was handling a gun in his bedroom as friends watched him on the app when he shot himself at his home in Forest Park, Georgia.

He was pronounced dead Monday evening at an Atlanta hospital.

Grieving family members were touched when O’Neal, who is from the Atlanta area, called and then paid a them visit on Thursday, news station WXIA reported.

“We just broke down and started crying because Malachi didn’t have any insurance,” Malachi’s godmother Shantirea Bankston told WXIA. “We wasn’t prepared to bury him this young. We didn’t have insurance for him. So to have that from Shaquille O’Neal it was a blessing and very touching, and we appreciate everything he do for the community.”
The former basketball star said that he wanted to alleviate the financial burden for Malachi’s mother, Shaniqua Stephens, who was home Monday evening when she said she heard a loud noise.

Stephens said she ran upstairs to her son’s room to find him in a pool of blood, with his phone still recording video on Instagram Live.

“No mother should have to go through this. I can only imagine the pain that she and all of Malachi’s family must be feeling. I just wanted to do what I could to help them at such a terrible time,” O’Neal said in a statement to WXIA.

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