5-Year-Old Shot In Belly By 9-Year-Old Brother At Cody Gas Station Recovering

The child shot Tuesday outside a Cody gas station was 5, and the shooter was his 9-year-old brother, police announced Wednesday.

The Cody Police Department is still investigating the incident, though at this time it “appears to be the result of a negligent discharge,” the department wrote in a Wednesday statement.

The two children were in a vehicle outside the KT Sinclair gas station on Sheridan Avenue in Cody, CPD Lt. Juston Wead told Cowboy State Daily on Tuesday.

The 5-year-old boy was shot in the abdomen, and his mother took him to Cody Regional Health Emergency Department for treatment, the statement adds.

“The parents have been fully cooperative throughout the investigation,” says the statement. “The most recent update provided by the family indicated a positive prognosis for the injured juvenile.”

The department encourages anyone who witnessed the incident or who may have relevant information to contact Detective Scott Burlingame at 307-527-8700.

‘Negligence?’

Noting that the case is new and the facts are limited, Gillette-based firearms instructor Frank Groth questions the use of the term “negligence” in describing the discharge of the gun.

That word indicates that someone acted contrary to his better knowledge.

People should treat all guns as though they’re loaded, and never train the muzzle on something “you’re not legally and morally justified to shoot,” Groth told Cowboy State Daily on Wednesday.

Whether any given 9-year-old would know that depends on the 9-year-old’s life experiences and teaching, he said.

“Now, can I expect a 9-year-old — who I don’t know what training they may have received from a parent or otherwise — can I expect him to know that? Probably not,” said Groth. “To him this is a gun. This is a cool thing that I can play with.”

That’s why securing guns from children’s free access is so important, Groth added.

And even among adults, he said, firearm safety training and caution are also important.

He recalled a Wyoming criminal case resolved this year in which a man in his early 20s unintentionally shot his friend to death and pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter.

Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.