Crime & Courts

Boy, 5, accidentally shot and killed by child in Kokhanok, troopers say

UPDATE 1:30 p.m. Monday:

Alaska State Troopers say another child is believed to have fatally shot a 5-year-old boy in the village of Kokhanok last weekend in what troopers had described as an accident.

Troopers said in a Monday dispatch that the boy, who was wounded Saturday, "was playing video games in the living room of his residence when another child (age 11) in the residence obtained a firearm and subsequently shot" the boy.

Medics flew the boy to an Anchorage hospital, where he died Sunday.

The boy's next of kin were at the scene at the time of the shooting. His body is being sent to the state medical examiner's office in Anchorage for an autopsy.

Original story:

A child has died after an accidental shooting Saturday evening in the Southwest Alaska village of Kokhanok, according to Alaska State Troopers.

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Troopers said in a dispatch Sunday afternoon they were informed of the shooting in the village of about 165 people, roughly 22 miles south of Iliamna, at about 6:20 p.m. Saturday.

"The victim was transported to an Anchorage hospital and was later pronounced deceased on (Sunday)," troopers wrote. "Troopers are responding from the Iliamna post."

Troopers spokeswoman Beth Ipsen said in an email Sunday afternoon that nothing further was available on the shooting Sunday afternoon, as troopers continued their initial investigation.

Southcentral Alaska members of the Alaska Bureau of Investigation will help look into the shooting.

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