Boy shoots brother with father`s gun after watching `Die Another Day`

24-Jul-2004 • Bond News

A boy playing with his father's handgun while watching "Die Another Day" on television shot his older brother in the neck when the gun accidentally discharged, police said.

New Castle County (Delaware, USA) police spokesman Cpl. Trinidad Navarro said police and paramedics were called to a home in the 200 block of Shetland Drive in the Chaddwyck community at 1 p.m. Friday for a report of a wounded 16-year-old boy.

Paramedics found the injured teen with a gunshot wound, spokeswoman Kelli Starr-Leach said. The victim was taken to the hospital in stable condition, she said.

Navarro said the two brothers, whose names were not released, were playing in the basement and watching the James Bond movie "Die Another Day" when the younger boy got his father's gun and accidentally fired it, striking his brother near the chin. The bullet lodged in the boy's neck.

The younger brother apparently had gone upstairs to the dining room china cabinet where his father kept his gun and brought it downstairs, Navarro said. He would not give the caliber of the weapon.

Detectives still have to confer with officials in the state Attorney General's Office to determine whether charges will be filed, Navarro said.

According to the most recent statistics released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, 13,053 in the USA were injured in 2002 by firearms.

Thanks to `Ken` for the alert.