A 14-year old resident of the Vineyard Place Apartments in Dowagiac had to be raced to the hospital shortly before noon today when he was shot in the foot while sitting on the floor of his own apartment.
Dowagiac Police say they were called out to the scene of the shooting at apartment complex in the city around 11:25am this morning after authorities at Ascension Borgess Less Memorial Hospital advised that they were treating the 14-year old.
The patient told police they had been sitting on the living room floor when a loud noise resonated followed by instant pain in the foot.
Police were told that somebody else had left the apartment after the incident, and that person, a 23-year old, was later contacted by a Deputy with the Cass County Sheriff’s Department and turned himself in. He told police he had been handling the gun in an upstairs bedroom at the Vineyard Place Apartment and accidentally fired the weapon into the floor. It traveled to the living room and struck the victim in the foot.
Dowagiac Police recovered the weapon as well as other evidence from the scene, and arrested the 23 year old Cassopolis man, on charges of assault with a dangerous weapon, being a felon in possession of a firearm, and felony firearm.
He is being held in the Cass County Jail pending arraignment in Cass County 4th District Court. All charges are pending authorization from the Cass County Prosecutor’s Office.
The victim was treated and released for non-life threatening injuries, and the incident remains under investigation. Anyone with information is asked to contact the Dowagiac Police Department at (269) 782-9743, or the Cass County Tip Line at (800) 462-9328. Dowagiac Police were assisted by the Cass County Sheriff’s Office during the incident.
