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Maryland boy, 8, charged in shooting of girl, 7

Posted on: Wednesday, 25 January 2006, 04:42 CST

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Maryland prosecutors have filed charges against an 8-year-old boy who shot and wounded a 7-year-old girl after threatening to rob her at a suburban day-care center, The Washington Post said on Wednesday.

The boy's father, "a felon with a lengthy record," was arrested and charged with leaving a firearm within reach of an unsupervised minor and other offenses after the Tuesday shooting, the Post said.

The third-grader had sneaked his father's .38-caliber revolver into the facility in his backpack on Tuesday, the paper said, quoting law-enforcement officials. He had been suspended in the past for bringing a weapon to school.

Police had initially said the boy accidentally shot the girl, a second-grade student, as a group of six children were attending a before-school program at the For Kids We Care day-care center in Germantown, Maryland, a Washington suburb.

But the Post said, "The sources said the boy threatened to rob the girl and then fired the gun once, striking her in the upper right arm."

The girl was reported in stable condition in a Washington hospital on Tuesday night, the paper said.

The boy "was charged as a juvenile with numerous counts that police declined to outline," it said. He was placed in the custody of the Maryland Department of Juvenile Services.

Source: REUTERS

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