16-year old Idaho boy shoots self in neck with friend's gun

A 16-year old boy, Andy Stroebel, had gone shooting with an adult friend in Fruitland, Idaho.  They went back to the friend's place to clean the guns, then the friend left to get a movie, leaving the boy with the guns, though the boy's mother was in the home at the time as well.  The boy then wound up shooting himself in the neck with one of the guns.  He is now in surgery in Portland, Oregon.


From the article:

Huff said Stroebel and an adult friend went shooting earlier in the day and were back at Stroebel’s house looking at his friends handgun. Huff said there were several unloaded guns in the house at the time, and the two had been cleaning them.

Huff said Stroebel’s friend left the area to get a movie, and the friend had taken the ammunition out of the gun, but at some point Stroebel put the ammunition back in.

“For some reason, he (Stroebel) put it up against his neck area and pulled the trigger,” Huff said. “The gun discharged and a round went through his neck.”

Stroebel’s mother was in the other room at the time the shot was fired. Stroebel was taken via Air Ambulance to a Boise-area hospital and then was flown to a Portland-area hospital.

Huff said the evidence indicates this was an accidental shooting.

Stroebel is a student at Fruitland High School.

Huff also wants to remind people with handguns or who may be around firearms that everybody needs to be trained and familiar with those guns.

“Treat them as if they are loaded,” Huff said.

Training is good, but keeping guns out of the hands of children is better.

Every gun in the hands of a child must first pass through the hands of an adult.