Watch CBS News

Boy, 6, building snowman, shot and wounded by BB gun

WAREHAM, Mass. - A 6-year-old boy was making a snowman in the backyard of his grandparents' house in southeastern Massachusetts when a neighbor intentionally took aim at him with a high-powered Airsoft rifle and shot him with a pellet, according to CBS Boston.

The boy, Sean Carduff, was reportedly with his cousin when he was struck. He's recovering.

“I hear a child screaming, coming around the back of the house,” his grandfather, Scott Carduff, told the station. He says at first they didn’t know what had happened.

“Who would think a 6-year-old boy got shot in the back yard? We had no idea and then his father started taking his jacket off and there was blood there.”

 

 The boy was rushed to the hospital and treated for his injury. CBS Boston reports the pellet traveled from Sean's shoulder to his arm and remains lodged in his body. He'll need more surgery to remove it.

“He could’ve been killed,” said his grandmother Carol Carduff, noting that he was hit in the shoulder – just inches from his head. “Who in their right mind would hit a little boy, playing outside in the snow...would take a gun with a scope and shoot at them? I can’t imagine someone doing that,” she said.

Wareham Police have charged the Carduff’s 16-year-old neighbor with assault and battery with a dangerous weapon and as a minor discharging a BB gun.

Police say they found two airsoft rifles in the teen’s room. They believe he aimed and fired at Sean on purpose.

Scott Conduff says his grandson is healing physically, but is still shaken and afraid after the shooting.

“I’m sure he’s afraid to go out in the back yard. I’m sure it’ll be quite awhile before he’ll feel safe in this backyard,” he told CBS Boston.


View CBS News In
CBS News App Open
Chrome Safari Continue
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.