By Tia Lyons
El Dorado police are still trying to determine where a 14-year-old boy got the handgun with which he critically injured a younger boy last week while playing the potentially deadly game of Russian roulette.
Capt. Kevin Holt, public information officer for the El Dorado Police Department, said the 12-year-old victim was to be released from Arkansas Children’s Hospital in Little Rock where he had been transferred following the shooting on April 22.
Holt said the boys were visiting a friend’s residence in the 600 block of Nelson and were playing video games when the older boy produced a six-shot revolver and suggested that they play Russian roulette.
The younger boy was struck by a bullet that tore through his right shoulder, cheek and jaw and became lodged in his neck near his spine, Holt said.
He was taken to Medical Center of South Arkansas and later transferred to ACH.
“The (14-year-old) juvenile emptied the revolver and put a round back in the cylinder and pointed the gun at the 12-year-old juvenile,” he said.
Police responded at 7:56 p.m. last Wednesday to a report of the shooting at the Nelson Avenue residence.
“There were some adults in the residence at the time, but they were in other parts of the house and they were unaware of what was going on until it happened,” Holt said.
Police recovered from the residence the revolver that was believed to have been used in the shooting.
When asked if investigators knew how the older boy came into possession of the revolver, Holt said, “That’s something that we’re still looking into.”
The 14-year-old boy was arrested for first-degree battery and a minor in possession of a firearm. He was reportedly turned over to the Union County Juvenile Probation Office and transported to a juvenile detention facility.
“We’re still investigating, and if other charges are warranted, we’ll look at that,” Holt said.