New Year's Day in Amarillo was supposed to be a fresh start, but for 15-year-old Brynnlee Hampton, it was a sudden end. At 1:10 a.m., the year began not with a celebration, but with a gunshot that no one could take back.

AMARILLO, Texas | KVII | January 1, 2026

The suspect accused of killing a 15-year-old girl on New Year's Day was waving the gun and pointing it at people before the shooting, according to court records obtained by ABC 7 News.

Jeremiah Luke Lajuan Matthews, 17, is charged with manslaughter in the shooting death of 15-year-old Brynlee Hampton.

Around 1:10 a.m. Thursday, police were called to a reported shooting in the 6000 block of Westwind Ave., where officers located a vehicle.

Hampton, identified in court documents by her initials, was a front-seat passenger and had been shot. She was transported to Northwest Hospital, where she was later pronounced deceased.

Investigators reported finding a single bullet hole in the rear of the front passenger seat and blood on the seat.

According to the complaint, the vehicle's juvenile driver told officers she, Hampton, and her other six passengers, were leaving a party when the shooting occurred.

Multiple passengers told police Jeremiah had been handling a firearm inside the vehicle, waving it around and pointing it at the faces of passengers, according to the documents. One passenger said the gun discharged while Jeremiah was playing with it. The driver initially thought the sound was fireworks before realizing Hampton had been shot.