PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — An 80-year-old woman was recovering in the hospital Tuesday night after teens playing with a gun accidentally shot her in a Northwest Philadelphia home, police say.
Around 4 p.m. Tuesday, a bullet grazed the woman in the head while she was sitting in the living room of the home on 77th Street near Washington Lane in Northwest Philadelphia, according to police.
Her 18-year-old grandson and two other 18-year-olds were on an upper floor of the home, playing with a gun which somehow discharged, according to Capt. John Walker.
The bullet passed through the floor and hit the woman in the head downstairs.
"We shouldn’t have 80-year-old people sitting in their house, sitting in the hospital, with gunshot wounds on a beautiful day," said Walker, who also told KYW Newsradio that the fascination around guns has become a problem.
“You pull that trigger, there are devastating results for a lot of people. Not only is it for the grandmother here but for these young men who are going to be charged with a crime," said Walker.
“I think a lot of kids just don’t understand that you pull this trigger, you can’t stop that bullet. And that bullet has no name.”
It was unclear early Tuesday evening whose gun it was, who fired it and why it was fired.
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A few family members were home at the time, and one of the young men fled the house, say police. Philadelphia police say they detained two young men, but they did not initially reveal the charges the young men will face.
In a similar case, authorities in West Chester said an 18-year-old in Coatesville left a loaded gun unholstered and unsecured, on his bedside table on Feb. 28, and his 4-year-old brother unknowingly pulled the trigger, killing himself.
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Jim Melwert contributed to this report.