7-year-old Texas Boy Shoots 8-Year-Old Cousin In The Face
An 8-year-old Texas boy who was accidentally shot in the face by his 7-year-old cousin is out of surgery and expected to survive his injuries, but is listed in critical condition, according to what police officials told the Los Angeles Times on Friday.
The victim was struck in the left cheek at around 4:30 p.m. on Thursday at an apartment building in Texas City, roughly 40 miles outside of Houston, according to Texas City Police Capt. Joe Stanton.
Emergency crews airlifted the boy to a hospital in Houston, where he is listed in critical condition.
Stanton said that the 8-year-old victim, his 9-year-old brother and his 7-year-old cousin were all left alone inside an apartment on Thursday after the person their mother asked to watch them left the residence for an unknown reason.
The children found a loaded .380 caliber semiautomatic handgun somewhere in the home.
“The 7-year-old was waving it and it went off and struck the 8-year-old in the left cheek,” Stanton said. “We don’t think it was an intentional act on the part of the 7-year-old.”
The Los Angeles Times reports:
The babysitter, whom Stanton would describe only as an adult male, was likely a relative. He is considered a “person of interest” in the incident, but Stanton said police have been unable to locate him for an interview.
It’s not yet known who owned the firearm of if it was registered.
Stanton said criminal charges cannot be filed against anyone younger than 10 years old by Texas state law, however, the person responsible for leaving the gun accessible to children could face endangerment charges.
The state’s child protective services agency is also investigating the incident.
The New York Post reports that the mother’s boyfriend may have been responsible for supervising the children, according to police.
Just this week, a 5-year-old playing with a gun ended up shooting and injuring a 3-year-old girl in Colorado.
H/T: My Internet friend Bill Reis-Knight with thanks.
M D Reese August 8th, 2014 at 5:56 pm
When children shoot other children with guns they find laying around the house, it is NOT an “accident”.
Khary A August 8th, 2014 at 5:58 pm
OK, Seriously can we just have ONE week where a child doesn’t shoot another child in the face, or is that just too damn much to ask for?
Anomaly 100 August 8th, 2014 at 6:17 pm
This ^.
fantagor August 8th, 2014 at 6:01 pm
I don’t want to hear that bullshit about “responsible gun owners.” Every one of these incidents happens in the home of somebody who thought of themselves as a responsible gun owner. The preferred parlance is to say there are gun owners who so far have yet to mess up and get someone killed or critically hurt, and those who already did.