Deputies with the Wise County Sheriff's Office are investigating an apparent accidental shooting where a 13-year-old was shot in the abdomen Tuesday afternoon.
Capt. Wes Wallace with the Wise County Sheriff's Office said four juveniles found a snake outside of a home on New Hope Road.
Police said two of the boys then went inside the home to get a gun to shoot the snake. As the .22-caliber rifle was being removed from the gun case, the butt struck the wall causing the gun to fire.
One of the boys standing in front of the weapon was shot in the stomach. The boy was flown to Cook Children's Hospital in Fort Worth in critical condition. His current condition is not known.
No one else was injured.
Wallace used the incident as an opportunity to stress gun safety.
"Just make sure that weapons are unloaded and secure within a residence, and make sure that only adults have access to them," he said. "Lock them up. And in addition to that people still need to teach, if they're gonna own weapons and have weapons, they still need to teach their children weapon safety."
NBC 5's Ben Russell contributed to this report.
