MINNEAPOLIS - Prosecutors announced charges Monday in connection with the murder of a 5-year-old boy.

In an afternoon news conference Monday, Hennepin County Attorney Michael Freeman said his office filed first degree murder charges against two teenage boys, a 15-year-old whose name has not been released and 17-year-old Stephon Shannon.

"This is a 5-year-old kid who was mowed down sleeping on his grandma's couch," said Freeman.

All because of a petty feud said investigators.

It was Tuesday morning when prosecutors believe Shannon and the other teen shot up a home on the 4500 block of Bryant Avenue. Nizzel George and three other children were sleeping inside on the coach when George was fatally hit.

"We're still going through the grieving, through the hurt," said the boy's father, Cornelius George.

Investigators believe the shooting was in retribution after someone shot up Shannon's house only two blocks away on Camden Street the night before. That incident was allegedly sparked after the 15-year-old suspect pulled a gun on a group at a nearby convenience store.

According to the complaint, Shannon admitted to a witness that "he shot into the victim's house" and that "he had made his peace with God and was sorry about the baby". That's something Shannon apparently denies ever saying.

Both Shannon and the 15-year-old boy remain behind bars. Prosecutors want to charge the 15-year-old as an adult, but until they do they cannot release his name.

The complaint says Shannon's brother was murdered in September of 2011. It states his mother told police there have been ongoing problems with violence and threats to the house.

"People drive by the house and make threats to shoot up the house," the complaint states.

"Young people left to their own will kill each other," said Minneapolis Council Member Don Samuels.

This shooting and others like it in North Minneapolis have Samuels pleading with people to take back their neighborhoods by getting involved, if not for them, for a 5-year-old boy who never got that chance.

"You cannot walk away. This is our city, this is our problem, and the solution is ours," said Samuels.

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