Accidental shooting sends juvenile, adult to hospital

Saturday, April 20, 2019

A juvenile and his grandfather were hospitalized following an accidental shooting at a Greencastle home on Friday.

The Putnam County Department of Child Services requested that the Indiana State Police Putnamville District to conduct an investigation into the incident.

Preliminary information indicates that a juvenile was visiting with grandparents on Friday when he asked his grandfather about his handgun and wanted to know if they could go shoot. The grandfather told the juvenile that he would have to wait and maybe they could do so later.

The juvenile then proceeded to go into the grandfather’s bedroom where the handgun was kept and located the handgun, taking it into his possession and chambering a round.

The grandfather entered the bedroom and attempted to take the handgun away from the juvenile. During this attempt, the handgun went off. 

The bullet traveled through the grandfather’s left hand and struck the juvenile in the right leg.

The Putnam County 911 Dispatch was immediately contacted for medical assistance. Making the decision to not wait for medical assistance, the grandfather transported the juvenile and himself to the Putnam County Hospital.

The juvenile was later transported by ambulance to Riley Children's Hospital in Indianapolis.

Names have not been released in the incident.

The investigation is being conducted by Indiana State Police Trooper David Cox Jr. and detectives of the Putnamville State Police District.

The Indiana State Police want to advise the public that firearm safety is a must. Follow these few firearm safety rules for your safety and the safety of your family:

• Treat ALL firearms as if they were loaded.

DO NOT point a firearm until ready to shoot.

• Keep finger off the trigger and outside the guard until ready to shoot.

• Whenever your firearms are not in use, keep firearms unloaded and store them in a gun locker or use a trigger locking device.

ALWAYS keep firearms and ammunition away from children.

By following these few firearm safety rules, you can help prevent accidental discharge, unintentional death, injury or property damage caused by improper handling of a firearm. 

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  • Gramps made a couple bad mistakes: Letting the kid know where the gun was kept, and trying to wrestle it away from him once he had it. This could have turned out way worse.

    -- Posted by Ben Dover on Sun, Apr 21, 2019, at 10:04 AM
  • Sorry Grandpa, you dropped the ball on this one. You should never leave a gun in a location where it can be accessed by anyone. Apparently the juvenile is not responsible to even touch a gun by his actions. The last thing we need is a juvenile taking a gun and possibly killing an innocent person.

    -- Posted by Queen53 on Mon, Apr 22, 2019, at 4:49 PM
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