Mooresville man charged after boy, 8, shoots friend
A Mooresville man has been charged with failing to secure a gun properly after a boy shot his friend in the face Sunday during a game of cops and robbers.
Daniel Layne Stewart, the owner of the Iredell County home where the shooting happened, was charged with failure to secure a firearm to protect a minor, according to a news release from the Iredell Sheriff’s Office. Stewart was released from Iredell jail on unsecured bail.
The injured 11-year-old boy did not have life-threatening injuries, according to the release.
The 11-year-old and his 8-year-old friend were playing cops and robbers in the backyard of Stewart’s home on Peterborough Drive, just off Faith Road.
The 8-year-old hid in an outbuilding and discovered a rifle that had been stored there, according to the Sheriff’s Office. When the 11-year-old opened the door, the 8-year-old fired the rifle, striking the older boy in the cheek.
The injured boy was taken to the emergency room at Lake Norman Regional Medical Center and transferred to the Levine Children’s Hospital at Carolinas Medical Center to remove bullet fragments.
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This story was originally published March 30, 2015 at 4:22 PM with the headline "Mooresville man charged after boy, 8, shoots friend."