Teen dies after being shot in head at gun show

NORCROSS, Ga. (AP) -- A 13-year-old boy who was accidentally shot in the head while attending a gun show with his father died Monday.

Stephen Bray King, of Prattville, Ala., was taken to Scottish Rite Children's Hospital in Atlanta after a single bullet from a .38-caliber revolver struck him in his right eye and lodged in his brain Sunday afternoon.

He remained on life support after surgery and died shortly after noon Monday.

The boy's father, Anthony Grant, of Montgomery, Ala., said his son was standing on his left facing a vendor's counter when the gun was fired. The shooting happened two hours into the Eastman Gun Show at the North Atlanta Trade Center in Gwinnett County.

"We were looking at holsters. I was reaching to get money out of my pocket when the shot went off," Grant told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. "There were all kinds of people behind the counter. I was looking down, so I didn't see anything."

A day earlier, the two had enjoyed a trip to Whitewater Park and were looking forward to the gun show, which attracted hundreds and ended Sunday.

Police were still investigating the incident to determine how the shooting happened and whose gun was involved, Gwinnett County police spokesman Ray Dunlap said Monday.

Dunlap said police were considering the possibility of charges, but he would not say what specific charges or against whom. Officials said loaded guns are not allowed at gun shows, except for those carried by police officers or security guards.

Vendors also are allowed to carry loaded handguns for protection, but they cannot display them on a table or let customers handle them, authorities said.

"All we know for sure is it was an accidental discharge of a handgun," Dunlap said. "At this point, we don't know if it was a vendor's gun, but it was not a gun being exhibited on a table."

The vendor running the booth where the boy was shot later complained of chest pains and was examined by paramedics, but he did not need to be hospitalized.

He was questioned by detectives, Dunlap said.