Sheriff’s investigators suspect a 13-year-old boy shot his
father in the chest Tuesday evening with a .38 special snubnose
handgun, and the juvenile told deputies it was accidental.
HOLLISTER
Sheriff’s investigators suspect a 13-year-old boy shot his father in the chest Tuesday evening with a .38 special snubnose handgun, and the juvenile told deputies it was accidental.
It occurred at 1371 Hillcrest Road at about 6 p.m. Tuesday when he shot his father, age 32, once with a Smith and Wesson .38 special snubnose handgun, Undersheriff Pat Turturici said.
The juvenile, said Turturici, is an “active member of the Norteno street gang” who returned home Tuesday night and encountered his father in the residence. His father approached him, wanting to speak with his son, and was shot once in the chest just above the left nipple, Turturici said.
“The kid says the gun went off accidently,” explained Turturici, “and that he ran to tell his mom as soon as it happened, and she then drove him to Hazel Hawkins Hospital.”
Nieto was stabilized at Hazel Hawkins Memorial Hospital and then airflighted to Bay Area hospital where he underwent surgery at 1 a.m. and is in stable condition today.
Sheriff’s deputies back in Hollister interviewed the juvenile who had arrived at Hazel Hawkins.
“He told us he had accidently shot his dad, then ran out to a field and threw the gun,” said Turturici, adding that deputies further interviewed and then arrested the juvenile, while others went to the field and located the weapon on the northeast side of Hillcrest Road.
The sheriff’s office lists the suspected violations commited by the youth as negligent discharge of a firearm, assault with a deadly weapon, illegal possession of a firearm, possession of a firearm while in an active street gang, and possession of a concealed weapon.
Turturici further commented that the juvenile claimed he had bought the weapon for $100 and that the office is “looking at someone of interest who may have sold it to him.”
