RCMP in Grande Cache have confirmed that the boy’s brother was handling a gun when it accidently went off and the 10-year-old was hit. The brother is only seven. The CBC News reports that the family have said that the adults who lived in the home were unaware that the gun was even loaded.
CBC quoted a cousin in the family they identified only as Jolene saying that the family “…is holding up. We have a big, huge family and we’re all pulling together.” The mayor of Grand Cache, about 425 km. west of Edmonton, Herb Castle, called the tragedy “very sad, very tragic.”
RCMP spokesperson Sgt. Josee Valquette said they recieved a call at about 10:45 a.m. on Monday about the discharge of a firearm in a rural home. When the police and paramedics arrived the child was still alive and he was transported by helicopther to a hospital in Edmonton, where he later died. Sgt. Valquette said it is too early to determine if there would be charges.
In a recent accidental shooting death in Toronto, a 13-year-old boy was charged with manslaughter and an 18-year-old man with criminal negligence causing death and careless storage of a firearm. They were charged in connection with the July 9 death of Lecent Ross, 14.
In the case of the Alberta boy, children under 11 cannot be charged with a criminal offence. RCMP did not say if they know yet who was responsible for the gun being in the home and whether that person will be charged.
