Teen Shot in the Head While Playing With Gun

[jpak]

http://www.newschannel9.com/news/police-1003680-peckenpaugh-gun.html

Matthew Peckenpaugh, 15, has been hospitalized after police say he was shot in the head early Sunday morning.

Red Bank Police Sergeant Dan Knight says the teen was outside his Lyndon Avenue home with several other underage kids playing a game with a revolver. Police aren't sure if the kids knew the gun was real. One of the kids pulled the trigger and shot Peckenpaugh on the right side of his face.

Peckenpaugh's grandfather, Darwin Henderson, was inside the home when his grandson was shot. The teen was conscious and stumbled inside the home, laying down on the couch while waiting for an ambulance."I thought he was kidding at first, because a lot of the times he's playing jokes. But when I'd seen the blood, it was no joke. I got weak. I didn't know what to do," Henderson explains, "His neck was bleeding all over and I cleaned up the blood off the floor."

Henderson says Peckenpaugh is in stable condition, about to undergo surgery. There's no denying he suffered serious injuries from a gunshot wound but there are conflicting stories about where that gun came from. The boys told Henderson the gun came from a nearby ditch and that the weapon was not loaded but Sgt. Knight says one of the teens brough the gun to the Lyndon Avenue house.

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