Tot may have fired shot that injured sister

The Daily Inter Lake

Investigators believe the gunshot that injured a 1-year-old girl last month was fired by her 2-year-old sister.

The 1-year-old girl was struck in the chin by a bullet from a .22-caliber pistol while sitting in a pickup truck near Somers with her older sister.

"It appears it was not self-inflicted," Flathead County Sheriff's Detective Kipp Tkachyk said Tuesday.

Physical evidence collected at the scene was consistent with statements given by the girls' parents and other witnesses at the scene, Tkachyk said.

According to authorities, the young girls were alone in a pickup truck parked at a Boon Road construction site about 4:05 p.m. on Nov. 25 when the younger sibling was shot once in the chin.

The girls' 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 father was working on the home's roof with two other people when the shooting occurred, said Tkachyk. Both parents ran to the pickup truck after hearing the shot and the father reported seeing the 1-year-old standing with blood on her chin, he said.

The two other workers, the mother, the father, and the 2-year-old girl were interviewed by investigators.

The girls reportedly had been put in the pickup truck for warmth while the adults worked outside.

The mother told investigators the semi-automatic pistol is kept unloaded in the vehicle, and Tkachyk said that may mean there were bullets in the magazine but not one in the chamber.

The Sheriff's Office will not release the girls' names and the names of her parents will not be released unless charges are filed.

Prosecutors, who received investigators' reports last week, have not yet determined whether charges are warranted, according to the Flathead County Attorney's Office.

After the shooting, the girl was taken to Kalispell Regional Medical Center, where she was listed in stable condition, before being flown to a children's hospital in Spokane. She has since been released.

The 2-year-old was not injured.