Boy Accidentally Shot In Domestic Dispute

A Navy sailor accidentally shot and critically wounded his 13-year-old stepson at their home in Upper Marlboro when he opened fire on a man who had intervened in a domestic dispute, according to Prince George's County police and the child's mother.

Kimeka White said the dispute began Wednesday night when she and her husband, Marvin, were watching "Why Did I Get Married?", the Tyler Perry drama about women who find new love after troubled relationships.

White, who declined to give her age, said she told her husband she could relate to a female character who was ridiculed as being too fat to fit into an airplane seat.

According to White, her husband said to her, "I told you, don't put us in that situation."

White said she sneezed, and her husband took offense. They began to argue, she said, and her sons -- ages 13 and 17 -- emerged from the basement, where they had been listening to music.

At that point, Doug Merrill, a tenant in the townhouse, came home. Merrill, 45, said in an interview that he stepped in when Marvin White attacked his wife.

"I didn't want him to touch her," he said.

Marvin White went upstairs and returned with a handgun, Merrill and Kimeka White said.

"Marvin turned around to shoot me in the head, and I moved and [the boy] caught one in the chest," Merrill said. "If I didn't move, he would have blown my head off."

The boy was in stable condition last night at Children's National Medical Center. Marvin White, 45, was charged with attempted first-degree murder.

In an interview yesterday outside their home, Merrill, Kimeka White and her 17-year-old son described the relationship and the events that led to the shooting.

The teenager said his mother and stepfather had argued in the past.