A complaint filed in Licking County Juvenile Court on Monday charged 15-year-old Noah Bigham, of Pataskala, with one count of reckless homicide, a third-degree felony if committed by an adult.

PATASKALA — A Pataskala teen faces one delinquency count of reckless homicide after police say he pointed a gun's laser sight at another teen's eyes to distract him from his video game, then pulled the trigger.

Around 12:45 a.m. Sunday, police and firefighters were called to the first block of Granville Street in Pataskala on a report of a shooting.

They found one teen boy dead from the shooting. Another teen was taken into custody at the time.

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A criminal complaint filed in Licking County Juvenile Court on Monday charged 15-year-old Noah Bigham of Pataskala with one juvenile count of reckless homicide, a third-degree felony if committed by an adult.

Bigham appeared in court later that day for an arraignment before Magistrate Christopher Strefelt. Bigham will remain in the juvenile detention center in Lancaster pending a safety assessment, and he will return for a detention review and pretrial hearing in about 10 days.

Sam Shamansky, Bigham's attorney, said it is his understanding that the shooting occurred in a bedroom at the home of the victim. The two boys were lifelong best friends, he said.

"The home, unfortunately, had complete access to handguns," Shamansky said. "It is my understanding the juveniles were able to have about unfettered access to firearms. This is what happens when you have firearms accessible. It's just awful. What we know for sure is it's unintentional."

Shamansky said Bigham should have access to counseling as soon as possible, and he asked whether the boy could be released to the custody of his parents.

According to the complaint, Bigham and the victim, 15-year-old Hunter Cooper, regularly "mess around with guns and pull the trigger." Police have not released the full name of the victim, but The Dispatch confirmed the name through police records, the county auditor’s office and a family friend.

While Cooper was playing a video game on his computer, Bigham took a 9mm Smith and Wesson M&P with a built-in laser sight and pointed the gun in the victim's direction, the complaint states.

"Noah used the laser function of the gun to point the laser at (Cooper’s) eyes to distract (him) from playing his game," the complaint stated. "Noah then pulled the trigger and the gun went off, hitting (Cooper) in the head."

Asked if the shooting could be characterized as accidental, Pataskala police detective Sgt. Gary Smith said, "We definitely can't acknowledge an accidental shooting. We're treating it as any shooting would be, at this point. In any investigation like this, you can't rule anything out."

Mental-health professionals were available Monday at Watkins Memorial High and Middle schools.

"It is with great sadness that I inform you of the loss of a freshman at Watkins Memorial High School through a tragic accident," Superintendent Kasey Perkins said in a Facebook post over the weekend. "It is very difficult for all of us to process the death of a young person."

In another Facebook post, a link was posted to an online donation site for those wishing to help the family of the shooting victim.

Dispatch Reporter Sheridan Hendrix contributed to this story.

msumner@newarkadvocate.com

@michaelasumner_