Herald staff
GRANITE FALLS — A 17-year-old Granite Falls boy who apparently shot himself in the head by accident was upgraded Tuesday to serious condition at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle.
He remains in a coma in the hospital’s intensive care unit, a nursing supervisor said.
At 7:30 p.m. Saturday, the boy, his younger brother and three friends were in an upstairs bedroom at the boy’s home in the 100 block of Indiana Avenue when the shooting occurred, Granite Falls Police Chief Chuck Allen said.
Witnesses told police that the boy was holding the gun and "twirling it around on a finger like a cowboy.
"The other boys got a little nervous and told him to stop it. He said, ‘Oh, the safety’s on. Besides, it’s not even loaded,’ put it up to his head and pulled the trigger," Allen said.
Police have not determined who owned the gun, a small-caliber semiautomatic, or how the boy came to possess it.
So far, no charges are anticipated, Allen said.
The incident remains under investigation.
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