A 15-year-old boy was accidentally shot in the back by a 14-year-old boy while the two were inside a car, Sandy police confirmed Monday.
The incident occurred nearly a month ago on July 10. Officers were called to Alta View Hospital after a 15-year-old boy was dropped off at the front door of the emergency room. The boy was soon after flown by medical helicopter to Primary Children's Hospital to be treated for a gunshot wound to his back, said Sandy Police Sgt. Greg Moffitt.
The boy has since been released from the hospital.
The boy was sitting in the front passenger seat of a car that was driving in the Sandy-Midvale area with at least two other people when he was shot by a 14-year-old boy who was "manipulating" a gun in the back seat, according to police. The two teens were dropped off at the hospital by the driver who then took off.
Using hospital surveillance video, detectives were able to get a license plate number and found the vehicle at an apartment complex in Midvale.
"When officers looked through the windows of the vehicle, they observed blood and what appeared to be a bullet hole in the front passenger seat that passed through the seat from the back to the front," according to a search warrant affidavit.
Moffitt said the case is still under investigation as detectives try to determine where the gun came from and whether possible gang affiliation played a role.