DETAILS REVEALED IN ACCIDENTAL SHOOTING

JACKSON, Mo. -- Contrary to early reports, the 16-year-old Jackson High School student killed in an accidental shooting Friday night was not one of the youths who were shooting the gun earlier that evening, authorities said Tuesday.

Nicholas James Hendrix was killed at 8:20 Friday night when a 9 mm handgun accidentally discharged inside a residence at 3090 state Highway FF in Fruitland.

Four youths ages 15 and 16 were at the residence at the time, and no adults were present.

The boy who lived at the house and one other youth took the gun out in back of the house to shoot while Nicholas and one of the other youths stayed inside talking on the telephone, an investigator said.

The other boy who remained inside said he heard two reports from the gun while the two were outside. Just after the two teen-agers re-entered the house, the gun accidentally discharged. They told authorities they thought they had unloaded the gun.

"One of the boys said he unloaded it by taking the clip out. If you know anything about guns or semiautomatics, that doesn't mean it's unloaded," Lt. David James of the Cape Girardeau County Sheriff's Department said.

On many semiautomatic handguns, taking the magazine out drops the next bullet into the chamber, he said. The bullet in the chamber has to be ejected as well.

Some handguns can't be fired without a magazine but this was not one of them.

The gun belonged to the owner of the residence, James said, and according to the owner had been secured. "It was in a gun case and had a trigger lock, but the boy knew how to get it out," the lieutenant said.

He did not know if the owner's son had permission from his parents to take the gun out. The parents arrived home shortly after the shooting occurred. Young Hendrix was dead at the scene.

The gun recently had been purchased from a business, James said. He did not know if it had been licensed but said the business the weapon was bought from does require licensing.

Whether any charges might be filed is not yet known.

"Technically, the killing of one human by another is homicide even though it's accidental," James said. "There is such a thing as involuntary manslaughter. We are sending our reports to the juvenile office and the prosecuting attorney for review."

Whether the parents might be responsible for the shooting probably would be a question for a civil court to decide rather than a criminal court, he said.

He advocated more education to help prevent such tragedies.

"Hunter education safety courses teach children not to point the muzzle of a gun at anything you don't intend to kill or shoot, he said."

He said parents have to educate their children about firearms and their dangers, "and that you always have to check to make sure a gun is unloaded."

James said the teen-ager who was holding the gun when it went off had never handled one before.