Prosecutors charged a Minneapolis teen with manslaughter on Wednesday following a shooting at a Crystal gas station that killed his close friend.

Cortez Ananias Williams, 17, told police that he was drunk when he was sitting in the back seat of a car on Aug. 26 with Hae'veon Wesley, a former student-athlete at Patrick Henry High School in Minneapolis. Both of them had guns, Williams later told police, and decided to switch them.

Williams said he held his gun by the handle, with the barrel pointed at Wesley's shoulder. Wesley grabbed the gun and a shot went off. Wesley slouched over and dropped the gun to the car floorboard. Williams checked Wesley and saw a hole in his chest.

As he and his friends were driving Wesley to the hospital, Williams told police he stopped to get the guns out of the car because he was on probation and not allowed to have firearms.

Wesley died at the hospital, according to the criminal charge.

The Hennepin County attorney's office said in the criminal complaint that "further investigation resulted in information that contradicts [William's] statement regarding the concealment of guns."

Williams told police the shooting was an accident, according to the complaint.

"We both mishandled it," he allegedly said during a police interview.

Williams had been on juvenile probation for a weapons crime and was released from electronic home monitoring the morning of the shooting. Williams also told police he was shot last fall and was affiliated with a gang.

Brandon Stahl • 612-673-4626