Police: Boy, 4, accidentally shot mother with shotgun

GIG HARBOR -- A young woman was rushed to the hospital after she was accidentally shot by her 4-year-old son on Monday afternoon.

Kitsap County Deputy Scott Wilson said medics responded to a home in the 10400 block of Glennwood Road Southwest, near Gig Harbor, at approximately 4:16 p.m.

They arrived to find the 23-year-old woman shot on her left side with a 12-gauge semi-automatic shotgun. She was taken to Tacoma General Hospital in unspecified condition. She was expected to be released some time Monday night.

Investigators said the mother was talking on the phone with her back to her son in a bedroom when she was shot. The woman told police she didn't know how her son had gained access to the weapon, and added she hadn't heard her son load the cartridge.

Wilson said some time before the incident, the boy's father, who is also the victim's boyfriend, gave the boy a shotgun cartridge so he could learn to handle it.

"The boy had expressed curiosity about firearms and his father provided him with one shotgun ammunition round," he said.

The boy's father was not at the home at the time of the shooting.

The victim's 2-year-old daughter was at the home, but was not injured.

Detectives believe the shooting was accidental; however, the investigation is ongoing.