The pellet gun wound that killed 10-year-old Keegan Swinney was so damaging doctors were surprised he lived long enough to walk home and collapse on his porch.

"It went through all the chambers of his heart," Keegan's father, Craig Swinney, said Saturday.

Swinney hadn't wanted Keegan to undergo an autopsy but took some peace from its conclusions: that there wasn't anything more he could have done to keep the boy alive.

"The coroner asked me twice, 'So he came across the street to you?' " Swinney said in a phone interview.

The coroner was surprised that the wounded boy made it that far.

"He said, 'There was nothing you could do,' " Swinney recalled. "You couldn't have saved him."

The Swinney family continues to grapple with the death and issued a statement Saturday, expressing gratitude to the community, first responders, emergency room staff and even the media, which he said allowed the family privacy in their grief.

It was the first public statement by the bereaved El Dorado Hills family and included a strong statement about gun safety.

"Out of this horrific tragedy, we hope to shed light on the dangers of pump pellet and BB guns to prevent future tragedies such as ours," Swinney's statement said.

Keegan was hit by a pellet from a Remington Airmaster .177 held by his playmate.

After the Tuesday shooting, the two boys walked over to Keegan's yard, where one of Keegan's four older brothers was working on a car.

The playmate said he had shot Keegan.

Keegan pulled up his shirt to show his brother the wound and confirmed that the other boy had shot him. Then he walked to the front porch and collapsed, Craig Swinney said.

"You miss him, you don't believe it," Swinney said. "It's like your soul's ripped out of you."

Though he cried at times during an interview, and apologized for it, Swinney said his family would move forward in positive directions.

"I'm not a half-empty, I'm a half-full guy," he said. "We're going to basically celebrate his life through our lives."

The family plans to hold a memorial for Keegan at his school, Silva Valley Elementary.

The shooting occurred when the boys were in the backyard of another family who owned the gun.

Keegan's friend was not aiming it, but was holding the gun when it fired, according to Swinney and authorities.

The family of that boy issued a statement Friday, saying they are "heartsick and devastated about this tragic accident. We express our deepest sympathy and sorrow for the Swinney family."

Craig Swinney and his wife, Cassandra, have not spoken to that family.

"It's too fresh. It's too early," Swinney said.

Neighbors on the tight-knit cul-de-sac have spoken about Keegan's smile and how it lit up any occasion.

His father echoed that, saying that Keegan was the one who went up the street to play with a lonely kid no one else was playing with.

He was a small boy, pleased to have grown an inch in recent months.

He was inclined to dance in front of the television and had been excited that his fire safety drawing had earned third prize in a contest.

Keegan hoped it would be turned into a poster; the El Dorado Hills Fire District has now told Craig Swinney that the boy's poster will appear on department trucks.

Keegan also knew his way around guns and how to avoid their danger, his father said. "He knows you never point them at people."

Swinney's prepared statement elaborated on that.

"While at the neighbor's residence, an unattended minor picked up a pellet gun that was improperly safety checked," the statement reads. "The muzzle of the pellet gun was pointed at Keegan.

"Keegan, knowing the dangers of guns, attempted to run away from the muzzle as the gun was fired. The issue here is a minor was left unattended by an adult with a pellet gun that had the potential to cause harm."

"He tried to move away," Craig Swinney said, speaking by phone. "This is such a rare thing that happens, but we want people to know it can happen."

Swinney said he felt "blessed" that he was home from work when the shooting happened, although he could not have saved his son.

Swinney said he recently was on a contracting job when a woman ran out of a home with a child who was not breathing and appeared to have drowned. He got that baby breathing again.

The memory is bittersweet for Keegan's father, who worked on his own son until paramedics arrived.

"I couldn't even bring my own baby back," he said.

Swinney, though he's not a fan of tattoos, said he and some of his four sons – 12 to 21 years old – will get one for Keegan.

"We just want to dedicate our life to him," he said.

The tattoo will mean Keegan is a part of any happy family times ahead.

"If anybody asks me, I still have five boys," Swinney said.

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