MERCER, Pa. (AP) — A Pennsylvania man won’t face any charges for the accidental fatal shooting of his 7-year-old son outside a gun store.
The Herald of Sharon reports Wednesday that Mercer County District Attorney Robert Kochems announced he won’t charge 44-year-old Joseph Loughrey in the Dec. 8 shooting of his son, Craig.
Police say the boy had been buckling himself into his safety seat in his father’s truck when a handgun accidentally fired as his father got in the front seat.
Kochems says Loughrey had removed the magazine from the pistol but didn’t realize there was still a round in the chamber when he tried to sell the gun at Twig’s Reloading Den in East Lackawannock Township. When the sale didn’t go through, Loughrey brought the gun back to the truck, where it accidentally fired.