Sheriff: Gun in Kalkaska shooting stored loaded, unsecured

Mardi Link, The Record-Eagle, Traverse City, Mich.
·1 min read

Aug. 6—KALKASKA — Kalkaska County Sheriff's investigators said the gun that killed a 5-year-old boy at a home in Rapid River Township had been stored loaded in an unsecured bin in a bedroom of the home.

Sheriff Pat Whiteford also said that during recent interviews with witnesses, law enforcement learned the suspected shooter is also 5 years old and is a neighbor of the victim.

"One of the children had the gun and took the magazine out and then the suspected shooter took the gun, went into the (living) room where the victim was shot," Whiteford said in an update on the investigation released Friday.

Whiteford said interviews are ongoing and evidence continues to be processed to determine details of the case.

The shooting was first reported at 11:50 a.m. Monday, in a 911 call to Kalkaska Central Dispatch.

Responding officers found a 5-year-old Mancelona boy had suffered a fatal gunshot to the head.

Eight children ages 5-15 were in the home at the time of the shooting; the parents of the children were elsewhere, Whiteford said.

Also responding were the Kalkaska Department of Public Safety, the KDPS's canine team, Michigan State Police Crime Lab and Kalkaska EMS.

The investigation is ongoing and will be reviewed by the Kalkaska County Prosecutor's Office, Whiteford said.

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