Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, July 15, 1995                   TAG: 9507170036
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: KATHY LOAN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG                                LENGTH: Medium

BLACKSBURG BOY, 5, SHOOTS SELF IN HAND

The bullet struck the boy in his left hand. The shooting happened about 9 a.m., while the mother, Kimberly Stowers, 36, was at work; the boy was in his 12-year-old sister's care, police said.

Officer M.G. Mickey said in a news release that the matter was under investigation and that charges were likely.

Virginia law makes it a misdemeanor to recklessly leave a loaded, unsecured firearm accessible to children under the age of 14 in such a way as to endanger their lives. The misdemeanor carries a maximum fine of $500.

Police gave this account of the accidental shooting:

The boy took the .38-caliber snub-nosed revolver from the closet shelf in his mother's bedroom, then took the gun outside into an area surrounded by small pine trees. The boy accidentally fired the weapon, and the bullet passed through his left hand and came to rest below a gutter at the back of a neighboring house.

A neighbor who was working in his lawn heard the gunshot and ran to help the boy, police said, but the child ran inside his house to his sister.

The neighbor entered the house, discovered what had happened, and called police.

The neighbor recovered the weapon and turned it over to police.

The boy was taken to Montgomery Regional Hospital by the Blacksburg Rescue Squad. There, Dr. S. Ross Mackay examined him and found he had feeling in his fingers and was able to move them.

The boy underwent surgery to clean the wound and remove any fragments left in his hand.