Sequatchie County Sheriff Ronnie HitchcockAuthorities in Sequatchie County are seeking the origin of a gunshot that seriously injured a teen boy Saturday in a remote area of the northern end of the county.
Sequatchie County Sheriff Ronnie Hitchcock said early Monday there were still few details known about how the boy – now being treated at Erlanger hospital in Chattanooga – was shot.
“It was very curious,” Hitchcock said. “They were out in the woods. We don’t know if there were some hunters or if it was something accidental. There was no gun found at the scene.”
The victim and other juvenile boys with him said they “heard the noise and one of them was hit,” Hitchcock said.
The names of the boys are being withheld for the time being.
“We just don’t know,” Hitchcock said. “We’re still trying to sort through and figure out what’s going on.”
Hitchcock said the boys had been out riding some remote logging roads in an old Jeep on Saturday. They were in the area of Blue Sewanee Road, a heavily wooded area on the west side of the valley along the Sequatchie-Bledsoe county line. There are only a few residences in the area.
Investigators now are attempting to determine where the shot came from.
The uninjured boys took the boy who was hurt to the Erlanger Sequatchie Valley Emergency Center in Dunlap, the sheriff said. The youth was transported from there to Erlanger in Chattanooga, where he is being treated in an intensive care unit, according to authorities.
Anyone with any information about Saturday’s shooting should contact the Sequatchie County Sheriff’s Office at 423-949-7750.
Contact staff writer Ben Benton at bbenton@timesfreepress.com or twitter.com/BenBenton or www.facebook.com/ben.benton1 or 423-757-6569.