A Pike County girl has been hospitalized and her cousin and another man are in jail after an accidental shooting late Friday night.
Pike County Chief Investigator Chris Bell said sheriff’s deputies responded around 11:30 to 6121 Magnolia Progress Road on a report of an accidental shooting involving a minor.
Bell said Jesse Williams, 21, and William David Foy, 24, had been at Williams’ cousin’s house for several hours and had been drinking when they began playing with a Taurus .44 Magnum revolver and showing it to a group of children, among them a 13-year-old female cousin of Williams.
Foy, who owned the weapon, gave it to Williams, who thought it was unloaded.
Williams pulled the trigger and the gun discharged, Bell said.
Bell said the bullet entered the bottom of the child’s right heel, traveled through part of her leg, exited her leg, and then entered her abdomen.
The girl was airlifted to University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson, where she is in stable condition. Bell said she will need surgeries, both on her leg and to remove the bullet from her abdomen.
Bell said Williams was charged with aggravated assault and Foy with conspiracy to commit aggravated assault because of the serious bodily injury inflicted when the gun went off.
Both men were also charged with contributing to the delinquency of a minor because of the late hour at which the incident took place.
