Police: Celebratory gunfire wounds Florida boy, 12

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Photographer: AP Graphics Bank
Copyright 2011 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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Posted: 01/01/2012

— Authorities say celebratory gunfire falling from the sky critically injured a 12-year-old Tampa Bay-area boy.

The Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office says the boy's family was sitting outside their Ruskin home around 1 a.m. Sunday and watching fireworks.

Sheriff's office spokesman Larry McKinnon says the boy's mother saw him fall to the ground, bleeding from his nose and eyes. She drove him to a hospital, where doctors determined he had suffered a gunshot wound from a bullet that entered the top of his head.

McKinnon says the boy remains hospitalized in Tampa in critical condition with the bullet still in his head.

Detectives say no one nearby had been firing a gun. The sheriff's office says the boy apparently was struck by celebratory gunfire that could have been fired miles away.

Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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