7-Year-Old Hurt At Firing Range: Boy Target Shooting With Rifle Hit With Bullet Fragments

A 7-year-old hurt at a firing range in California is in the midst of an investigation to learn what really happened. The boy was shooting a single-shot.22-caliber bolt action youth rifle, according to information coming from the El Dorado County Sheriff’s Department. KCRA 3 reports that the incident occurred Saturday afternoon and that the child’s father was helping him use the rifle.

Deputies say the boy grabbed his chest and complained of pain. His father noticed he had a hole in his T-shirt and blood was visible on his chest. The father took the boy to the Georgetown Fire Station and was airlifted to UC Davis Medical Center. His medical condition isn’t yet known.

The targets were 40 yards away, and several family members stood behind him as he and other shooters were firing their guns. No one claims to have seen ricochets and all of the guns were pointed at the targets.

The child’s father took the boy to the Georgetown Fire Station, where the boy was airlifted to the UC Davis Medical Center. He is expected to survive.

Investigators soon learned that fragments from a bullet did hit the boy. Deputies say no one at the range, which is owned by the boy’s family, pointed their weapons at anyone else.

After the accident unfolded, fire station officials alerted Cal Fire, which called the El Dorado County Sheriff’s Department. By the time deputies were on their way to the family’s firing range, the 7-year-old child was on the way to the hospital.

The gun that the boy was using is being described as a “larger-caliber rifle.” At the time the boy was hurt, his father was with him. The two of them stood a few yards away while standing side-by-side.

News of this event comes just weeks after a 9-year-old girl tragically shot her shooting instructor, Charles Vacca. They were at Last Stop firing range where the girl was firing a Uzi. According to the Washington Times, the unidentified girl claimed that the gun “was too much for her. “ This girl unintentionally shot Vacca just outside of Las Vegas at the firing range on the morning of August 25th. He later died that night. Investigators say this was a “tragic accident.”

The girl’s parents are “devastated” over the instructor’s death and hope their lives won’t revolve around this.

Now that a 7-year-old boy was hurt at a firing range, more fuel is added to the fire that centers around the nation’s intense gun debate.

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