Girl released from hospital after shooting

The Daily Inter Lake

A 1-year-old girl shot in the chin Nov. 25 near Somers has been released from a Spokane children's hospital.

Investigators have not said who was holding the pistol when it fired. The investigation into the shooting is still under way.

According to the Flathead County Sheriff's Office, the girl was in a pickup truck parked at a Boon Road construction site about 4:05 p.m. on Nov. 25 when she was shot once in the chin with a .22-caliber pistol round.

The girl's mother told detectives she was piling brush on the property, where the family reportedly is building a house, when the girl's father heard a gunshot come from the direction of the pickup truck.

The pistol is kept unloaded in the vehicle, the mother told investigators. A 2-year-old girl in the pickup truck's cab was not injured.

Detectives hope to ascertain whether statements taken from the mother and father are corroborated by physical evidence, investigators said.

The Sheriff's Office will not release the girl's name. The names of her parents also have not been released.

After the shooting, the girl was driven by a parent to the intersection of U.S. 93 and Snowline Lane, where the family was met by an ambulance from the Kalispell Fire Department. She was taken to Kalispell Regional Medical Center before being flown to Spokane.