By WBTV Web Staff | December 21, 2020 at 2:36 PM EST – Updated December 22 at 7:08 PM
ALEXANDER COUNTY, N.C. (WBTV) – An 8-year-old boy has died from a pellet gun after an accidental shooting in Alexander County.
The incident happened on Dec. 20 at a home in the Stony Point community of Alexander County.
The Alexander County Sheriff’s Office and Alexander County EMS was dispatched to a home for a child that was shot by a pellet gun. When deputies arrived, they discovered that an 8-year-old child was struck in the chest with a single shot from a pellet gun.
The child was taken to Iredell Memorial Hospital. The child was evaluated at Iredell and was taken to Brenner’s Children’s hospital in Winston Salem.
During transport the child went into cardiac arrest and was diverted to Davey Medical Center. The child tragically died from his injuries at Davey Medical Center.
The initial findings from the investigations appears to indicate that the injury was accidental. Deputies say the accidental shooting happened when two children, age 8 and age 7, were shooting a BB gun and a Pellet rifle at targets near the family home.
Sheriff Chris Bowman says it happened when the two boys were shooting at targets. The father of one was supervising but walked away for a moment to check on another child.
That’s when it happened, said Bowman.
The 7-year-old was lining up a target in the rifle’s scope and pulled the trigger just as the 8-year-old ran past the front of the barrel.
“A tragic accident,” said Bowman.
No charges are anticipated in the case, but authorities say what happened should be a reminder to people to treat even BB and pellet guns as weapons.
“We want to encourage the parents to train their children right when it comes to weapons,” said Bowman.
Names of those involved have not been released.
“Our thoughts and prayers go out to the families,” Bowman said.
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