An 8-year-old was shot in the leg Monday after a gun that was hidden in a barrel was set off by burning trash, the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office said.
A group of children were helping clean the backyard of a home on Devonshire Boulevard with their grandmother, JSO said. The group did not know there were two guns hidden inside the burn barrel that they were loading with debris and items.
JSO said when the guns were set on fire it caused the gun to go off and hit the 8-year-old, who was standing next to the barrel, in the leg.
The grandmother did not hear the shot at the time but realized the child was hit once he started screaming. She also told police that she heard two additional shots when she was loading the child in the car to take him to the hospital.
JSO said the guns were hidden in the barrel with one being partially melted.
The child suffered non-life threatening injuries.
JSO said it was clear that the gunshot came from the barrel.
Investigators are working to learn who stored the guns in an unsafe place.
No foul play is not suspected, but JSO did call the incident “reckless and careless.”
Comments are closed, but trackbacks and pingbacks are open.