Police say a 15-year-old boy is in critical condition after he was shot, believed to be accidentally, by another teenager who had a “ghost gun” near Gurnee Sunday evening.
The Lake County Sheriff’s Office and Gurnee Fire Department responded around 6 p.m. Sunday to the 36700 block of North Grandwood Drive in unincorporated Gurnee for a report of a shooting.
Sheriff’s deputies arrived and located a 15-year-old boy with a gunshot wound to the abdomen in the basement of a home.
Lake County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Chief Christopher Covelli said deputies rendered aid until paramedics arrived.
The boy was transported to Advocate Condell Medical Center in Libertyville where he remains in critical condition.
A preliminary investigation shows the boy was in the basement with two friends, both 16-year-old boys, Covelli said.
One of the other boys produced a firearm, which was a “ghost gun” semi-automatic pistol.
The boy discharged the firearm and a bullet struck the victim.
Sheriff’s detectives do not believe the boy with the gun meant to shoot the victim, Covelli said.
The juvenile who fired the gun was transported to the Hulse Juvenile Detention Facility in Vernon Hills.
Sheriff’s detectives petitioned the teenager to the juvenile court system on two counts of unlawful use of a weapon, reckless discharge of a firearm and reckless conduct.
The incident remains under investigation by the Lake County Sheriff’s Office.