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ISP Still Investigating Shooting Of 3-Year-Old

Last updated on Wednesday, March 20, 2013

(MORGANTOWN) - A 3-year-old boy who was shot Sunday evening in a relative’s home is still being treated Tuesday at Riley Children’s Hospital.

Indiana State Police Sgt. Curt Durnil says one of the hardest tragedies for police to respond to is that which involve children.

Sunday evening, a call for help came from the 6300 block of Spearsville Road at the home of SteveN Proctor - a three-year-old boy had been shot in the stomach with a .40- caliber handgun.

A medical helicopter landed at the Fruitdale Fire Department in Bean Blossom at 6:32 p.m.

"The child was not at his house where he normally lives. He was at a relative's house and maybe even a house that he was not familiar with," Durnil said.

Indiana State Police in Bloomington, who have taken over the case, say the child was taken by lifeline helicopter to Riley Hospital for Children in Indianapolis. He is still alive, but his condition isn't known.

As for the investigation, it's just getting started.

"There are a lot of people that still need to be interviewed by detectives. Obviously we want to get all the statements, and we want to make sure the type of case it is that we're looking at is exactly what we're looking at," Durnil said.

According to a Tuesday release, the gun discharged while in the child's possession.

What they're looking at, as of now, is an accident. There's no foul play suspected but questions of who was there, or how exactly it happened, aren't being answered.

"Nobody has been arrested. Nobody has been questioned as a suspect or anything like this. Unfortunately and tragically things like this do happen and obviously it's nothing we can charge a 3-year-old with but obviously somebody needs to be responsible enough not to let this happen," Durnil said.

In the meantime, police are urging the community to take this tragedy as a lesson.

"We always tell folks that guns can be a resource but they are an absolute no mistake type of tool."

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