From Bill Lindelof:
The rifle that discharged and killed a 12-year-old boy in a weekend Nevada County hunting accident has been sent to a lab for testing.
"There is no indication that this is anything other than a tragic accident," said Detective Sgt. Steve Tripp with the Nevada County Sheriff's Department.
Hayden McCleran died Saturday when he apparently accidentally shot himself during a hunting accident off North Bloomfield Road near Lake City Road in the woods on the outskirts of Nevada City.
The boy had been hunting with family members when his rifle fired, hitting him in the chest. He was separated from his fellow hunters when the weapon discharged.
The boy was in a stationary position, perhaps 200 feet from other hunters and out of sight, Tripp said.
Following standard procedure, detectives sent the rifle to the state Department of Justice firearms laboratory. It will be checked for possible malfunctions as experts "try to determine how this thing could have accidentally fired," Tripp said.
The boy had taken hunter safety classes, and "the family did everything they possibly could to be safety conscious," Tripp said.
Tripp said that since the boy was unseen when the gun went off, "We may never know what happened."
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