Lucky Shot! Meeker boy accidentally shoots his younger brother Monday night, but 12-year-old is OK

MEEKER — A 12-year-old boy suffered a head wound after being accidentally shot by his 15-year-old brother Monday night, but escaped serious injury.
“He was awfully lucky,” said Rio Blanco County Undersheriff Mike Joos.
The emergency call came in at 5:41 p.m. The 15-year-old made the call, saying his “brother had been shot in the head,” Joos said.
Joos and Deputy Clay Caldwell as well as Meeker emergency medical personnel responded to the scene at a residence on County Road 17, about 20 miles upriver.
“With the initial call, all we knew was that the victim had a gunshot wound to the head,” Joos said. “Initially, we were told the gun went off by itself, that it was knocked over and as it fell, it went off. Obviously, that isn’t what occurred.
“The investigation determined the rifle belonged to a 21-year-old brother, and the 15-year-old was playing with the weapon … the magazine was unloaded, but there was a round in the chamber,” Joos said. “As he swung the weapon around to look through the scope out the window, he accidentally pulled the trigger and shot his brother in the top of the head.”
Because it was a head wound, Joos said “there was a lot of blood. Basically, it grazed the top of of his head and left a two- or three-inch gouge in his head.”
The 12-year-old was taken by ambulance to Pioneers Medical Center. He was treated and released.