Boy killed in shooting identified

The 13-year-old boy was showing off his father's pistol to a companion. He pulled back the slide, he later told investigators. The gun went off.

Shortly after, 10-year-old Michael Tunnell was dead.

Such is how a tragedy played out Wednesday afternoon at a campground just north of Milford, Neb., authorities said.

Michael's name was released this afternoon. Authorities said Micheal is from McCalla, Ala. They have not identified the shooter.

The incident appears to be an accident, said Chief Deputy Dan Hejl of the Seward County Sheriff's Office. No charges are expected to be filed against the shooter.

It is the Seward County attorney who will decide whether any are filed against his father.

The weapon was a .40-caliber handgun. Authorities did not immediately know how the gun was stored or how the 13-year-old got hold of it. It also is unknown whether the gun went off because of a malfunction or the child pulling the trigger.

“It doesn't appear that there were any safeguards as far as storage of the gun,” said Hejl.

The two boys are from separate families staying at Riverside Park. Hejl declined to name them.

The boy who died was a resident of McCalla, Ala., a roadside community southwest of Birmingham. His family had traveled to Nebraska to work on a pipeline project in the Milford area. They were staying at Riverside Park in a recreational vehicle, Hejl said, as many such families do.

Hejl could not yet say for certain that the shooter's family was also here to work on a construction project but said that seems to be the case. He lives somewhere in Oklahoma.

The incident was reported at 1:42 p.m. It happened in the RV of the 13-year-old, authorities said. The younger boy was hit in his left shoulder, and the round hit vital organs before exiting his lower right torso, Hejl said.

Older siblings had been left in charge, he said.

Afterward, the boy ran and found an adult, who called 911. He then ran back to his RV and performed CPR on his pal.

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444-3106, andrew.nelson@owh.com