CRITTENDEN COUNTY, AR – Authorities say one child has been shot after brothers in Arkansas were playing with a gun they found.
It happened Sunday, May 31, at the 200 block of Ward Street in Edmondson.
Sheriff’s investigators say the two were playing in a storage building behind the home of Fannie Waterford, the grandmother of the two children, when the shooting happened. According to deputies, Waterford called the building a “community store” and had a .22 caliber rifle she kept in the store for protection. The boys found the gun and were playing with it when the 9 year-old shot his 6 year-old half-brother in the stomach, deputies said.
The 6 year-old was taken to Le Bonheur Children’s Medical Center, where he is expected make a full, but slow recovery.
Authorities say the 9 year-old boy will not face any charges in the shooting, but Waterford has been arrested and charged with Endangering the Welfare of a Minor. Investigators say she had the gun in a place where the children could find it and they were not supervised.
