Child, 4, slightly injured as 6-year-old fires gun; sheriff urges gun safety

Nov. 13—A 4-year-old was transported to a local hospital with minor injuries when a 6-year-old discharged a gun in South Charleston early Wednesday morning.

The 4-year-old suffered a minor graze or burn injury in the 400 block of Sunset Court around 6:45 a.m., and both children were transported to the hospital as a precautionary measure, Clark County Sheriff's Lt. Kristopher Shultz said.

The circumstances of the shooting are still under investigation, including how the child got access to the gun, as well as any safety features it had.

Shultz said potential charges are dependent on the findings of the probe. The sheriff's office is in communication with the prosecutor's office, but there is no timeline yet regarding a decision on charges.

But Shultz encouraged gun owners practice safety measures to prevent unauthorized access that can lead to injuries.

"All of us who own firearms, it's our responsibility to make sure they're secured properly and appropriately when we don't have them on us," Shultz said. "Its incumbent on everybody to make sure they have proper security measures in place to secure against unauthorized access or use, even in some situations that may appear to be secure in and of themselves are not always. There is a responsibility of the owner of the firearms to make sure that they are fully and completely secure."

Shultz compared the South Charleston incident to another that occurred in the Northridge area on Saturday, in which a 16-year-old accidentally shot 15-year-old Ray Estep, who died at the hospital.

"It's one of those things that reinforces the fact that everybody that owns firearms needs to be undistracted and fully focused when handling or using or storing their firearms," Shultz said.