By James Caldwell, PWTorch assistant editor

With local news coverage turning into national news coverage and WWE now under the microscope, the company issued an aggressive new statement Wednesday addressing the death of a five-year-old girl after her teenage brother allegedly used "WWE-style wrestling moves" to beat the girl to death.

"The death of Viloude Louis is a tragedy and we express our heartfelt condolences," WWE said. "Authorities have already charged the accused with second degree murder and determined that this was not an accidental death due to a wrestling move. The facts of this case clearly point to a lack of parental supervision and a teenager who had a history of violent behavior toward his 5-year-old stepsister. It is illogical to conclude that the repeated, brutal, and ultimately fatal beating of a 5-year-old little girl by a teenager could be confused with imitation of WWE action seen on TV."

Original Story June 18

A 13-year-old boy, Devalon Armstrong, is accused of beating his five-year-old sister to death after allegedly using "WWE-style wrestling moves" on the girl at their apartment in New Orleans.

It's a story that has received significant attention locally, especially creating questions about whether WWE has any responsibility in the death.

WWE issued a statement responding to the news, saying local authorities "have already charged the accused with second degree murder and determined that this was not an accidental death due to a wrestling move." WWE added, "The death of Viloude Louis is a tragedy, and our condolences go out to her family. WWE urges restraint in reporting this unfortunate incident as if it were the result of a WWE wrestling move."

According to local officials, five-year-old Viloude Louis died from "blunt-force trauma and multiple internal injuries." The teenage brother told police that he "punched her in the stomach several times, jumped on her, and struck her with his elbow like the wrestlers do on television.”

Devalon was booked in juvenile jail this week and charged with second-degree murder at a probably cause hearing on Tuesday. Devalon's defense attorney said Devalon may not be "mentally competent" to understand the legal situation, suggesting that Devalon did not understand that he hurt his sister.

This is supported by local officials reporting that Devalon smiled as he described the actions he took on Viloude. According to the report, Devalon "appeared to enjoy talking about the wrestling moves and physical abuse," which lasted for "two to three minutes" until their mother called to check on them.

However, the mother, Desvallons, told a local news outlet that he's spoken with Devalon since the incident and he is "sorry for what he did" and he "never expected it would happen."

The next step in the case is Devalon being evaluated by a psychiatrist to determine whether the defendant can "participate in his own defense" and "understand the proceedings." A hearing about Devalon’s competency is scheduled for next month.

WWE's perspective is that this situation was not friends imitating WWE wrestlers and something unfortunate happened. Rather, a teenager who might have larger mental issues is under question, and if not wrestling moves, he may have used another approach to beat her death.

[ LINKS: Reports HERE at TheAdvocate.com & HERE at WashingtonTimes.com and HERE at NOLA.com ]

We suggest these recent related articles...

WWE NEWS: Superstars SPOILERS - Results from Chicago Raw

WWE NETWORK: Monday, Oct. 12 Schedule - Raw pre-show, Sting DVD preview

WWE NEWS: Lana & Rusev reportedly engaged - follow the interesting 2015 timeline