
                         THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
                 Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, June 1, 1994                    TAG: 9406010503 
SECTION: LOCAL                     PAGE: D4    EDITION: FINAL  
SOURCE: STAFF REPORT 
DATELINE: 940601                                 LENGTH: SUFFOLK

POLICE CONFIRM CHILD SHOOTING WAS AN ACCIDENT

{LEAD} A 9-year-old boy who died Friday was accidentally shot by his 14-year-old brother while the two played with their parents' guns, police said Tuesday.

The younger boy, a third-grader at Mount Zion Elementary School, died almost instantly Friday evening after his brother shot him in the head with a .357-caliber pistol.

{REST} The boys apparently got two pistols out of a locked gun cabinet and did not know that one was loaded, police said. The key to the cabinet was in their father's truck.

The victim and his brother, whose name was not released because of his age, were playing with the guns outside the garage of their home in the 4900 block of Gardner Lane when the shooting occurred just before 6 p.m., police said.

The boys' father was home asleep.

The gun that killed the boy was not fully loaded, and the brother pulled the trigger several times before it fired, police said.

Police said they would talk to Suffolk Commonwealth's Attorney C. Phillips Ferguson before deciding whether to file charges. Ferguson was out of the office Tuesday and could not be reached for comment.

A funeral for the victim was held Tuesday, while special counseling was offered to classmates at his rural Suffolk elementary school.

``You just try to keep things as low-key as possible and provide help for everyone who needs it,'' said Mount Zion Principal Wanda Hamilton.

{KEYWORDS} SHOOTING FATALITY ACCIDENT GENERAL

by CNB