By By Janet Little Cooper
An Ernest Ward Middle School student remains in the children's intensive care unit at Sacred Heart Hospital after being shot in the chest with a 22 rifle according to officials with the Escambia County, Fla., Sheriff's Department.
Deputies were dispatched to the scene on Highway 4a in Century, Fla., involving a shooting victim at 8:50 a.m. Saturday morning.
Upon arrival the deputy made contact with the victim's grandfather who lives next door. "The grandfather indicated that at that time, all he knew was that he had received a phone call from his son telling him that his grandson had been shot and could not respond," ESCSO deputy Robert Preston said. "The grandfather immediately went next door and made contact with the victim who was in the living room lying down."
Preston was also able to speak briefly with the victim's father who confirmed that his son and his 9-year-old brother were the only ones home at the time of the incident. He and his wife were both at work when the shooting occurred.
After speaking with the deputy in the back yard, the 9-year-old brother said that he was sorry that he was shooting at the shed and admitted to shooting his older brother by accident.
A Ruger, Model 1022 – 22 caliber rifle was retrieved by Deputy Preston from the home's master bedroom with one magazine containing eight rounds. The father reported that the gun he kept in his bedroom was not loaded. His son however, indicated that he did manually pull the bolt back to load the gun and that the magazine was already in the gun.
According to the deputy's report, the youngest brother was standing on the back porch of the home when he fired the weapon. He indicated that his brother was walking away from him and towards the shed when his brother turned around.
"He indicated that he had raised the weapon to fire at the shed," Preston said. "He stated that he pulled the trigger and realized that he had shot his brother."
Police reports state that the victim had walked approximately 60 feet away from the porch towards the shed.
Life Flight transported the older brother to Sacred Heart Children's Hospital in Pensacola, Fla. Reports indicate that the teen suffered a collapsed lung in the incident.