Florida ? A 13-year-old choked and beat his 8-year-old brother to death because the younger boy ate a dessert and the older one worried he would be blamed, authorities said Wednesday.

Demetrius Key was arrested on a charge of first-degree murder. The boys’ mother, Tangela Key, told police she was visiting a cousin nearby and left him in charge of Levares Key and other younger siblings Saturday.

Demetrius Key went to the cousin’s house and told his mother his brother was “passed out,” the sheriff’s office said. The younger boy was pronounced dead at a hospital.

“Demetrius offered that Levares upset him by eating a dessert that (he) was not to have eaten,” Detective Appling Wells wrote. “He also advised Levares upset him by picking a scab and causing it to bleed.

“Demetrius said he feared Levares would blame both circumstances on him and tell his mother he had struck him and eaten the dessert.”