A nine-year-old boy continues to recover at the Alberta Children’s Hospital following Monday morning’s accidental shooting on the Pincher Creek Hutterite Colony.
The boy, who was originally identified by RCMP as being 11 years old, was involved in a water fight with his 13-year-old cousin when the elder of the two found a loaded .22-calibre pistol in a drawer in a shop. The teenager pulled the trigger and the nine-year-old was shot in the chest. There were no adults present at the time of the shooting.
The parents of the injured boy drove him to the Pincher Creek Hospital where he was stabilized and flown by a STARS Air Ambulance crew to the Alberta Children’s Hospital.
Colony officials confirmed to CTV that the bullet passed through the boy and ‘fortunately the bullet missed their large and important organs’. The child is expected to survive.
On Monday, RCMP members stated that it was unlikely that charges would be pursued against the 13-year-old but an investigation had been started into the storage of the firearm.
The Pincher Creek Hutterite Colony is located just west of the Pincher Creek townsite and approximately 100 kilometres west of Lethbridge.
With files from CTV's Tyler Barrow
