Muncie police investigate child's shooting

MUNCIE — City police on Friday evening were investigating the shooting, apparently accidental, of a 3-year-old girl.

Police Chief Steve Stewart said in a press release the child was in critical but stable condition.

The victim was brought to the downtown Muncie fire station, at Jackson and Madison streets, about 5:30 p.m., apparently by her father.

He was believed to have carried his daughter there from the shooting scene, in the 700 block of South Elm Street in the Millennium Place housing complex.

The child was taken by ambulance to IU Health Ball Memorial Hospital. She was later flown by air ambulance to an Indianapolis hospital.

Authorities were told the gunshot, apparently from a .22-caliber handgun, was accidentally fired by a 13-year-old boy, who had found the weapon and did not realize it was real.

The child's shooting came about 14 hours after city police, responding to a report of shots fired near the downtown McDonald's, found a 12-year-old boy carrying a .25-caliber handgun.

This story will be updated.

Contact news reporter Douglas Walker at (765) 213-5851. You can also follow him on Twitter @DouglasWalkerSP.