Teen-Ager Shot in Head at Gun Show Dies of His Injuries

NORCROSS, Ga.

A 13-year-old boy died Monday after being shot in the head while attending a gun show with his father. Stephen King of Prattville, Ala., was struck in the eye Sunday by a bullet that lodged in his brain. He died after surgery at an Atlanta hospital. It was unclear how the shooting happened or whose gun, a .38-caliber revolver, was involved. Police said they believe it went off accidentally

The boy's father, Anthony Grant, of Montgomery, Ala., said his son was standing on his side and facing a vendor's counter when the gun fired. "We were looking at holsters. I was reaching to get money out of my pocket when the shot went off," Grant said. "There were all kinds of people behind the counter. I was looking down, so I didn't see anything."

Vendors at gun shows are allowed to carry loaded handguns for protection but cannot display them on a table or let customers handle them, authorities said. Other loaded guns are not allowed, except for those carried by police officers or security guards.

"All we know for sure is it was an accidental discharge of a handgun," Gwinnett County police spokesman Ray Dunlap said. "At this point, we don't know if it was a vendor's gun, but it was not a gun being exhibited on a table."

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