A 16-year-old boy is charged with careless handling of a firearm for shooting a 15-year-old girl in the leg earlier this month while he was messing around with a handgun.
Deputies are recommending a misdemeanor charge of providing false information to law enforcement be filed against the girl, who originally said she was shot in the leg by people driving by while she was walking on Ustick Road in the early morning hours of July 3.
Investigators had doubts about the girl’s story from the beginning.
The girl didn’t call 911 to report what happened — and deputies only found out about the shooting after getting a report from a third party that a girl with a bullet wound in her leg was being treated at a local emergency room.
The girl told deputies she was walking on Ustick Road, between Ten Mile and Black Cat roads, just before midnight July 2 when she was hit by a bullet in her leg as a car drove by.
Deputies spent several hours searching that area but did not find any evidence of a shooting.
Detectives interviewed several people and followed numerous leads before determining the shooting actually occurred inside the girl’s home the night of July 2.
The girl was not seriously injured in the shooting. She was treated and released from the hospital hours later.
An arrest warrant was issued for the boy Tuesday. He is also charged with a misdemeanor count of being a minor in possession of a firearm. The boy turned himself in early Thursday morning.
Deputies are also recommending the 35-year-old man who drove the girl to the hospital be charged with providing false information to law enforcement.
That man originally told deputies he did not know who the girl was but picked her up after she waved him down from the side of the street. It turns out he knew both the girl and the boy.
Anyone with information should call Ada County non-emergency dispatch at 377-6790 or send an email to [email protected]