LYNNWOOD — A mother brought her 15-year-old son into a police station in Mill Creek.
The boy told officers that the Jan. 27 shooting near Martha Lake was an accident.
He and three other teenage boys took a family member’s firearm, said Shari Ireton, a spokeswoman for the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office.
As of late last week, the investigation is ongoing.
The boys wandered into a wooded area near Cascadian Way to take a look at the gun.
Deputies were told the 15-year-old was handling the gun when it accidentally fired. A 17-year-old was struck in the arm. His injuries weren’t life-threatening.
The 15-year-old boy panicked, Ireton said. He dropped the gun and ran.
Search and rescue teams looked for the boy as the sun was setting and used heat sensors to search the woods.
They had hoped to find him before it got too dark, “not because we want to punish him, but because we’re worried about him,” Ireton said in January.
The boy turned up at the sheriff’s south precinct in Mill Creek a few days later. He told sheriff’s deputies what happened and led them to where his friend was shot. They found the gun, which was collected as evidence, Ireton said. The boy has not been arrested.
Caitlin Tompkins: 425-339-3192; ctompkins@heraldnet.com.
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