Police Say 'Jena Six' Teen, Mychal Bell, Shot Himself

Mychal Bell, a teen convicted in the "Jena Six" beating case shot himself in the chest with a .22 caliber firearm and was taken to a hospital in Monroe, La., on Dec. 29, according to the police.

Monroe Police Sgt. Cassandra Wooten told the Associated Press that the wound was not life-threatening.

The reported shooting took place days after Bell's arrest Dec. 24 for shoplifting, resisting arrest and simple assault.

Wooten said she believed Bell was "upset over the [shoplifting] incident...and didn't want to be in the news again," she told AP.

Bell was one of a group of Black teenagers who once faced attempted murder charges in the 2006 beating of a White classmate at Jena High School.

The charges against all of the defendants were reduced after widespread national criticism and a 20,000-person march on the tiny central Louisiana town, the largest civil rights march in decades.

Bell eventually pleaded to a juvenile charge of second-degree battery and has been living in a foster home in Monroe and attending school.

One of Bell's attorneys in the assault case didn't immediately return a call seeking comment on the recent shoplifting case.

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