Boy recovering after accidental shooting

December 22, 2010

By BRIAN HAWKINS
sdneditor@bellsouth.net

A 12-year-old boy had emergency surgery at OCH Regional Medical Center after being wounded in what authorities said was an accidental shooting late Tuesday morning.
The boy and his 9-year-old brother were home alone at 1403 Cannon Road when they received a phone call from a telephone number they did not recognize, said Sheriff Dolph Bryan Tuesday afternoon.Though they did not answer the telephone, the two boys became frightened when they did not recognize the number and armed themselves amid concerns “someone may be coming after them,” Bryan said.
“They got scared. The 9-year-old got a baseball bat, and the 12-year-old went and got a .410-gauge shotgun,” Bryan said.
“One thing led to another, and the 12-year-old dropped the shotgun, and it went off.”
The 12-year-old was wounded in the hand and the abdomen and was transported by ambulance to OCH after authorities were notified by a phone call to E-911 operators, Bryan said.
Sheriff’s deputies and OCH paramedics were notified by an E-911 call at 11:30 a.m. The boys’ parents were both at work at the time, Bryan said.
Information about the boy’s medical condition was unavailable Tuesday afternoon, but Bryan later reported that he was out of the surgery and was going to recover fully.
In the meantime, Bryan urged parents to keep firearms unloaded and locked away where children cannot get to them.
“Guns shouldn’t be loaded in the house if kids are there alone without adult supervision,” Bryan said. “Firearms should be kept where kids can’t get to them. If they are unloaded, they are disabled.”
The Sheriff’s Department has gun locks available for parents to pick up to help secure firearms against use. For more information, contact the Sheriff’s Department at 323-2421.