Child injured while handling handgun in grandparents’ home in Harrison County

Published 8:49 pm Monday, July 2, 2018

SAUCIER, Miss. (AP) — A 6-year-old Mississippi boy was hospitalized after being shot while handling a gun in his grandparents’ house.

Harrison County Sheriff Troy Peterson tells news outlets that the boy found a .22-caliber handgun in an unlocked dresser drawer Monday.

Peterson says the 6-year-old was handing the gun to his 8-year-old brother when it shot one bullet that went through both of the younger boy’s legs.

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The boy was taken by helicopter to the University of South Alabama Medical Center in Mobile with injuries that were not life-threatening.

The sheriff says the children’s grandmother, who is their legal guardian, was in another room of their Saucier home.

Sheriff’s investigator Neal Allen says the gun did not have a trigger lock. No charges were immediately filed, and an investigation continues.