Accidental shooting in Cathedral City injures 14-year-old boy

A 14-year-old boy was hospitalized with non-life threatening injuries on Wednesday after his father accidentally discharged his gun, hitting him, according to the Cathedral City Police Department.

Police officers were dispatched to the 68-100 block of Peladora Road on a report of an accidental shooting at around 7 p.m., police said. The boy was taken to the hospital, where the bullet that had struck the left side of his back was taken out with no complications, and he was later discharged.

Police said it appeared the father was handling his new firearm and pulled the trigger at a bedroom wall believing it was empty of ammunition. The bullet traveled through the wall and hit the backrest of a chair his son was sitting on, police said.

Detectives investigated the incident and did not arrest the father at the scene based on the evidence they collected, according to the police department. The department will submit the incident to the District Attorney’s office for review once its investigation is complete, police said.

Ani Gasparyan covers the western Coachella Valley cities of Desert Hot Springs and Cathedral City. Reach her at ani.gasparyan@desertsun.com. City News Service contributed to this report.

This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Accidental shooting in Cathedral City injures 14-year-old boy