A 5-year-old DeLand boy is in critical but stable condition after being shot in the head with a BB gun by an 11-year-old boy.

  • 5-year-old boy shot in head by BB rifle in DeLand
  • 11-year-old boy aimed BB rifle at bird, he says
  • Boy says 5-year-old stepped into his shot

Both boys recently moved with their families to DeLand from Puerto Rico.

The 11-year-old speaks very little English but explained how he took the BB rifle without permission from the owner and tried shooting a bird. But then, the 5-year-old stepped into the shot, he said.

The 11-year-old's mother allowed him to speak as long as his identity was not released.

The boy said he and three others, including the 5-year-old, were playing in the backyard Wednesday while their mothers were inside. He was trying to shoot a bird with a BB rifle, he said.

“I was pointing over there, and he was in the middle," the 11-year-old boy said in Spanish. "I told the 5-year-old to get out of the way, which he did. But when I fired the shot, he ran in front of me.”

The boy said the 5-year-old, a family friend, fell to the ground, unconscious and bleeding.

He said the child was struck just behind the head, below the ear.

Shocked at what happened, the 11-year-old boy became hysterical.

“He started crying, and he kept saying, 'I didn't mean to do it... I was just playing,' ” family friend Lourdes Cruz said.

The 5-year-old was taken to a DeLand-area hospital but then transferred to Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children in Orlando, where he is recovering.

Family members said the boy is alert, but doctors are waiting for swelling to go down before they proceed with treatment.

According to state law, it's illegal for a child younger than 16 to fire a pellet gun unless that child is supervised by an adult.

Family members said the BB rifle belonged to a next-door neighbor, who asked a teenager who lives in the home where the child was shot to hold the firearm.

Police said they're investigating, and although they are calling this an accidental shooting, they said charges are still possible.