Family members say a metro Atlanta middle school student was showing off a gun on social media when he accidentally shot himself. 
 
 Family members say he traded his iPhone for the gun about four days before shooting himself. They believe his death didn't have to happen if someone had spoken up. 
 
 Heart-stopping screenshots show Malachi Hemphill's last social media post, which showed the danger he had right by his side. 
 
 "That is my godson, Malachi. He was 13 years old and he was in his bedroom playing with a gun on Instagram live," says Shantiera Bankston. "He was full of life, he was a good kid, very active, loved dancing." 
 
 And it's those traits his family feels are not of someone who wanted to commit suicide, but of a teen who would make a mistake that would cost his life. 
 
 "He did not kill himself," says Bankston." He loved life, he was just playing with a gun and the gun went off." 
 
 His family explains he got the gun from another teenager four days before the shooting. 
 
 "If somebody would have said something, maybe he'd be still here," says Bankston. 
 
 His father, Ernest Stephens, tells CBS46 it was Malachi's mother who kicked in his locked bedroom door and found her son. 
 
 The bullet hit the teen in the head. 
 
 "When the accident happened inside that room, he was fighting from the time it happened, before the ambulance got here, he was still fighting," says his father. 
 
 Malachi later died at Grady Memorial Hospital. Loved ones lit candles and gathered together in his memory. 
 
 Officials in Forest Park are only saying the incident is still being investigated. 
 
 Copyright 2017 WGCL-TV (Meredith Corporation). All rights reserved. 

 EDITOR'S NOTE: The story was originally published in April 2017. It is part of our "Year In Review" section as one of our most-viewed stories of the year. 
 
 “I heard a big boom. I couldn't tell if it was a gunshot or what." 
 
 Shaniqua Stephens had just watched her 13-year-old son take out the trash Monday evening when she heard a noise. 
 
 "I just knew that it was something that was wrong,” she said. 
 
 She and her daughter ran upstairs and found him. “We kicked in the door. We found him just laying there in a pool of blood," Stephens recounted. "My daughter screamed and said, 'Mom turn his phone off!' As I proceeded to look at his phone he was on Instagram Live.” 
 
 MORE | Mother, friends struggle with emotions after Instagram-streamed death 
 
 Thirteen-year-old Malachi Hemphill was live on the social media site Instagram handling the gun when it went off. He was rushed to Grady Hospital where he died. 
 
 Forest Park Police said they responded at about 10:40 p.m. 
 
 “This is just a pain that will never go away," she said. "He was my only son. He was just only 13. Just the thought of me seeing him on the floor will never leave my brain." 
 
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 Photos | 13-year-old dies after Instagram shooting 
 
 Photos | 13-year-old dies after Instagram shooting 13-year-old Malachi Hemphill died after shooting himself on Instagram Live. His mother said the shooting was an accident. 13-year-old Malachi Hemphill died after shooting himself on Instagram Live. His mother said the shooting was an accident. 13-year-old Malachi Hemphill died after shooting himself on Instagram Live. His mother said the shooting was an accident. 13-year-old Malachi Hemphill died after shooting himself on Instagram Live. His mother said the shooting was an accident. 13-year-old Malachi Hemphill died after shooting himself on Instagram Live. His mother said the shooting was an accident. 13-year-old Malachi Hemphill died after shooting himself on Instagram Live. His mother said the shooting was an accident. 13-year-old Malachi Hemphill died after shooting himself on Instagram Live. His mother said the shooting was an accident. 13-year-old Malachi Hemphill died after shooting himself on Instagram Live. His mother said the shooting was an accident. 13-year-old Malachi Hemphill died after shooting himself on Instagram Live. His mother said the shooting was an accident. 13-year-old Malachi Hemphill died after shooting himself on Instagram Live. His mother said the shooting was an accident. 
 
 Stephens said it was an accident and not an intentional suicide. 
 
 Several of his friends were watching when the shooting happened. Stephens said they rushed to her house afterward. 
 
 “There was about 40 to 50 kids outside," she said. "I guess these were the kids that were watching on live that live in the area. I guess when it happened they just ran over here.” 
 
 She has been told that someone asked why he didn't have a clip in the gun and told him to put a clip in the gun. “As he put the clip in the gun, that is when the gun went off,” she said. 
 
 Stephens isn't completely sure how Malachi got the gun. She was told he got the gun from a friend who got it from someone else. Detectives said they are consulting with the Clayton County D.A.'s office, and depending on where their investigation leads, criminal charges are a possibility. 
 
 She said it was hard to keep track of his activities on social media even though she and her husband Ernest monitored his profiles often. Both said they tried their best to know where their kids were and who they were friends with. They worked to be role models for their children, but said the wrong influence outside the home and a parent's eye can still lead to tragedy. 
 
 Officials at Babb Middle School, where Malachi was a 7th-grade student, have brought in grief counselors to assist students. 
 
 Photos | Family and friends hold vigil for teen killed on Instagram Live 
 
 Photos | Family and friends hold vigil for teen killed on Instagram Live The family and friends of a Forest Park teenager hold a vigil after he was killed on Instagram Live. The family and friends of a Forest Park teenager hold a vigil after he was killed on Instagram Live. The family and friends of a Forest Park teenager hold a vigil after he was killed on Instagram Live. The family and friends of a Forest Park teenager hold a vigil after he was killed on Instagram Live. The family and friends of a Forest Park teenager hold a vigil after he was killed on Instagram Live. The family and friends of a Forest Park teenager hold a vigil after he was killed on Instagram Live. The family and friends of a Forest Park teenager hold a vigil after he was killed on Instagram Live. The family and friends of a Forest Park teenager hold a vigil after he was killed on Instagram Live. The family and friends of a Forest Park teenager hold a vigil after he was killed on Instagram Live. The family and friends of a Forest Park teenager hold a vigil after he was killed on Instagram Live. The family and friends of a Forest Park teenager hold a vigil after he was killed on Instagram Live. 
 
 “(The) Detective asked me yesterday, 'What was Malachi's Instagram name?' I couldn't tell him what Malachi's Instagram name was because he would make up so many different pages," Stephens said. "Monitor their phones, just monitor your children. More now than anything.” 
 
 She said she hopes parents get the message to keep a vigilant eye on what children are doing and who they are doing it with. “It can happen to the best parents...it can happen to the best people. The best ones that loved their kids, you know? I just always let them know about situations and decisions,” Malichi's stepfather Ernest Stephens said. 
 
 In addition, Forest Park Police released a message to the public: 

 While sitting in her kitchen Monday night, Shaniqua Stephens suddenly heard a loud bang coming from her son Malachi's room. 
 
 She ran upstairs to investigate along with her daughter, both yelling his name. After kicking down his locked door, they discovered the 13-year-old laying on the floor in a pool of blood, with his phone opened to Instagram. 
 
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 "I was just screaming 'Call 911, call 911,'" Shaniqua Stephens, Malachi's mother, told NBC News. Hours later, she said, the boy died at a local hospital. 
 
 Now, police in Forest Park, Georgia are trying to trace where Malachi Nasir Hemphill got the Hi-Point 9 mm pistol he was handling before he accidentally shot himself in the head on Monday. 
 
 His mother says at least 10 to 15 people watched the shooting in real-time on Instagram and immediately rushed to the home. She said her son was attempting to put a clip in the gun when it went off. 
 
 Authorities have filed paperwork in hopes of obtaining the social media evidence and say charges are possible. No signs point to the shooting being suicide, police said. 
 
 Candles burn around a photo of Malachi Hemphill in Atlanta on Wednesday, April 12, 2017. Malachi Hemphill was live on the social media site Instagram handling a gun when it went off on Monday. He was rushed to Grady Hospital where he died. Courtesy Helen Hemphill 
 
 "The circumstances [of Malachi's death] are certainly tragic ," said Forest Park Police Major Chris Matson at a press conference Thursday afternoon. "This is a horrific event, not only for parents and children, but also horrific for us." 
 
 Helen Hemphill, Malachi's grandmother, believes one of Malachi's friends traded him the gun for an iPhone. His mother, who was not aware her son had a weapon in the house, said police are now looking for where the friend obtained the pistol. 
 
 "He knows better than that," Helen Hemphill said. "It's too easy to get a gun. You have a law that says that if you turn 18 and have a good record, you can go and get a gun. You make it so easy for them." 
 
 And she says Malachi's death has hit the community hard. 
 
 Nearly 200 friends, relatives and neighbors attended a candlelight vigil held in Malachi's memory three days after his death. Babbs Middle School, where Malachi Hemphill was a 7th grader, has brought in counselors to help grieving children and dozens of students have written goodbye cards to their former classmate. 
 
 Helen Hemphill, who drove her grandson to school every morning, described him as a "comical and energetic kid" who loved singing and dancing. He also played football for his school and church. 
 
 "He was not a bad kid at all. He was a wonderful kid and a great grandson," she said. "I picked him up every morning and took him to school. It's hard not picking him up now." 
 
 Helen Hemphill and her grandson Malachi Hemphill in an undated photo. Malachi Hemphill was live on the social media site Instagram handling a gun when it went off on Monday April 10, 2017. He was rushed to Grady Hospital where he died. Courtesy Helen Hemphill 
 
 Meanwhile, the boy's family is left wondering why nobody viewing the live video intervened. 
 
 "When you see someone on a live video playing with a gun, don't take it for granted if that's your friend. You tell somebody," Stephens said. "Do something about it because this could've been prevented." 
 
 Like most kids, Hemphill said her grandson used a number of social media apps, including Snapchat, Instagram and Facebook. But after Monday's tragic accident, she plans on monitoring her own 12-year-old daughter's social media activity more closely. 
 
 Authorities are offering the same advice. During Thursday's news conference, Matson urged parents to oversee their children's Internet activity more vigilantly, adding that kids should also be made aware of the dangers of playing with guns. 
 
 “This is a different era," he said. "This information age, where kids have access to the internet [and] social media sites like they never have before. We want to make sure that message is reiterated to parents."
– His mom says Malachi Hemphill was apparently only trying to put a clip in a gun she didn't even know he had. Instead, the 13-year-old accidentally shot himself in the head Monday as 10 to 15 friends watched on Instagram Live. Shaniqua Stephens tells WXIA that a witness to the livestream had told Malachi to put a clip in the weapon, which family members did not know he possessed but believe he got from a friend in exchange for an iPhone just four days earlier, per CBS 46. "As he put the clip in the gun, that is when the gun went off," says Stephens, who heard a "big boom" inside her son’s bedroom in their Georgia home. She found the teen lying in a pool of blood after kicking down his locked door. He died hours later at a hospital, reports NBC News. Forest Park Police, who say there is no evidence the shooting was a suicide, are now trying to trace the Hi-Point 9mm pistol and say charges are possible. "This is a horrific event, not only for parents and children, but also horrific for us," a police rep says. Police are also advising parents to educate their children on the dangers of guns and monitor their children's social media activity. Malachi's parents say they did just that. But this "can happen to the best parents … to the best people," his stepfather says. "This is just a pain that will never go away," adds Stephens. "He was my only son. He was just only 13. Just the thought of me seeing him on the floor will never leave my brain." (Accidental shootings kill more kids than you know.)