FATAL SHOOTING OF BOY, AGE 2, RULED ACCIDENT

MARBLE HILL - The Bollinger County sheriff's department said Monday that Friday's fatal shooting of a two-year-old St. Louis County boy was an accident.

Sheriff Januar Peters said Rodney Lynn Duvall II, of High Ridge, Mo., was shot at about 10:30 p.m., Friday, while riding in the back seat of his father's two-door car.

The sheriff said the boy, his father, Rodney Duvall, and a friend they were visiting, Lawrence Cathy of Patton, were in the car on a gravel road near Patton when the shooting occurred.

Peters said the loaded .22 caliber rifle was lying between the front seats, with the barrel pointed toward the rear seat, where the boy was sitting.

"Apparently, the boy grabbed the barrel of the rifle," the sheriff said. "When the father tried to pull it away from his son, the weapon discharged. The bullet struck the boy in the side of the rib cage."

Peters said Duvall drove to Cathy's house, where a Perry County ambulance was called from Perryville. He said the boy was rushed to Perry County Memorial Hospital, but died on the way. He was pronounced dead on arrival by the Perry County Coroner Pat Nager.

"The prosecuting attorney and Bollinger County coroner's office are still investigating, but as far as I'm concerned, the death was accidental," the sheriff said.