8-year-old Killed; Two Teens Injured in Unintentional Shootings

In St. David, Arizona, 8-year-old Bradley John Shockley was accidentally shot in the chest with an air rifle while riding on the back of a friends’s four-wheeler. He was pronounced dead at the hospital a short time later. The vehicle went through an area where people were target shooting, and Bradley was shot with a .22 caliber pellet fired from a high-powered air rifle.

“It was a complete accident and he tragically got shot,” said his mother. She also said he loved his little brother, spaghetti and reading, and acknowledged how hard the holidays will be this year. “We have to be strong and it’s hard but we’re trying.”

A 33-year-old man and his 17-year-old son were sitting in the living room of a home in Nashville, Tennessee. When the father got off the couch, a gun in the pocket of his pants unintentionally discharged, hitting his son. The teen received non-life-threatening injuries to his “chest/abdomen area.” The father led police to the trunk of his car where he placed the gun after the shooting. There, police found a 9mm Glock that had been reported stolen. The father also said he had been sharing a bottle of whiskey with his girlfriend just before the incident. He has been charged with theft of a firearm and possession of a handgun while under the influence.

And it appears that a 17-year-old boy in Shirley, Indiana, is going to be OK after accidentally shooting himself in the leg. He told officials he was trying catch a handgun as it was falling, and as he reached for it, he accidentally pulled the trigger. The police chief said the gun belonged to a family member and will turn over the police report to the prosecutor’s office to determine if any charges will be filed.

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