Nicoma Park Police Chief Wants Gun Safety Education After Near Tragedy

A 10-year-old boy accidentally shot by his brother last week in Nicoma Park has the police chief calling for gun safety education.

Nicoma Park police Chief Rob Groseclose said it should not only be taught at home but in public schools.

He called it a terrible accident that could have easily killed the 10-year-old.

Now, he wants to stop this from happening again.

“So many things went wrong to lead up to this one tragic situation, that you can’t just point the finger at one,” Groseclose said.

Groseclose is an experienced firearms safety instructor and said gun education for children is critical and should be taught in public schools.

“It’s never too young to start educating them on the safety and the danger of guns,” Groseclose said.

Hundreds of children are killed across the country every year because of "unintentional shootings," according to a report called Innocence Lost.

“You teach it as a tool, you teach it as something to young people, then you’re less likely to have a situation like this again,” Groseclose said.

The 10-year-old's three brothers found the gun Thursday on a shelf inside a home their father was working on, and it fired when one of them dropped it.

“When he went to catch the gun is when it went off,” Groseclose said.

The bullet hit his brother on the side of his face, inches from killing him.

“It’s not the gun's fault. It’s not the gun's problem. It’s the owners that need to handle those guns a little bit differently, and very possibly eliminate situations like this,” Groseclose said.

Three officers who were the first on scene have spent a lot of time at the boy's bedside.

For them, with children of their own, this hit close to home.

“They’ve all taken it upon themselves to go visit this young man in the hospital and spend a little bit of time with them,” Groseclose said. 

The 10-year-old remains at OU Medical Center with a gunshot wound, but he's expected to make a full recovery.