BEDFORD – A teen was arrested Monday after Bedford Police Officers responded at 6:55 p.m. to the 2000 block of H Street after a report of shots fired.
When Officers Sarah Haluda and Stuart Ratcliff arrived, they found a 15–year-old male exiting from a home. The teen said the gun was inside. They found a scale sitting directly inside the door. No one else was found inside the house.
Police found a rifle-style pistol leaning against a wall to the right of the door.
The residents reported the shooting reported they were sitting in their living room when they heard a pop and then noticed their television had been damaged. The caller told police he and his wife were sitting in side–by–side recliners, and the bullet had to travel between the two of them to strike the television. Police also found damage to the window next to the front door. A single bullet was recovered in the home.
The teen was very emotional and apologetic and said repeatedly it was an accident. He said he was trying to clean the weapon and had removed the magazine, pulled the charging handle back, looked inside, and released the handle when the gun discharged.
Police found a shattered glass from the front door scattered around the front deck of the teen’s home.
The teen was detained and transported to the Bedford Police Department, where his mother was contacted. Police then secured a search warrant for the boy’s home.
Officers entered the home and could smell the odor of burnt marijuana. The teen admitted he had smoked marijuana two days before this incident.
During a search of the house, police found an American Tactical rifle, a 9mm handgun, a glass jar containing THC wax, 67 MKX brand THC cartridges, and two High Minded Creations THC cartridges.
Juvenile Probation was alerted, and the teen was medically evaluated at IU Bedford Hospital after police learned the teen had placed the weapon to his head after firing the shot. Once medically cleared, he was transported to a Bartholomew County juvenile detention center on a charge of criminal recklessness with a firearm.
