A fun weekend for an Alabama father and son ended in tragedy Sunday when the 13-year-old was accidentally shot in the face at a gun show in Norcross.
A single bullet from a handgun, fired at point-blank range, struck Steven Bray King in his right eye and lodged in his brain. Steven was listed in critical condition this morning after surgery at Scottish Rite Children's Hospital of Atlanta.
Steven, a rising freshman at Prattville High School in Prattville near Montgomery, was attending the gun show with his father, Anthony Grant, 38, of Montgomery.
"We were looking at holsters," Grant said at the hospital. "I was reaching to get money out of my pocket when the shot went off." Steven was standing on Grant's left side facing the counter. Grant's girlfriend, Kathi McQueen, was standing on his right side.
The shot, which spewed gunpowder residue onto the left side of Grant's T-shirt, barely missed his head and came from directly behind the counter, Grant said. He said he did not see who fired the gun.
"There were all kinds of people behind the counter," said Grant. "I was looking down, so I didn't see anything."
Steven immediately fell and did not respond to treatment given almost immediately by a physician and an emergency medical technician who were attending the show, Grant said.
McQueen, also of Montgomery, confirmed Grant's version of what happened.
Police are still investigating who was holding the gun.
"It appears to be an accidental shooting," said Gwinnett Police spokesman Ray Dunlap, who did not expect charges to be filed. "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. It was an unfortunate discharge."
After the shooting, paramedics were summoned to treat a vendor at the show who experienced chest pains but did not have to be hospitalized, Dunlap said.
The shooting occurred about 12:15 p.m., two hours into the Eastman Gun Show, which drew thousands Saturday and Sunday to the North Atlanta Trade Center off Indian Trail Road, officials said.
Grant said he and Steven, who lives with his mother, came to Atlanta for a weekend outing.
"He's a super kid," said Grant. "A smart kid. He was an A-B student. He won a (school) science award last year."
They went to Whitewater Park on Saturday, and he and Steven had looked forward to attending the gun show, he said.
At Eastman Gun Shows, security workers at the front door check all firearms brought into the show. They attach plastic safety ties to the triggers or firing mechanisms of all guns, including those on exhibit, so they can't be fired.
Vendors, though, are allowed to carry loaded handguns for protection. They can't place the loaded guns on the table or let customers handle them, authorities said Sunday.
Allowing vendors to carry loaded weapons is "where the potential danger is," said Ron Pafford, a Suwanee resident, who attended the gun show Sunday.
"I really can't imagine how somebody else could get in there with a loaded clip," said Pafford, who grew up duck hunting with his father. "When you walk through the door, you have two officers who put a zip-tie on any gun, pistol or shotgun." Eastman Gun Shows started out in 1981 as a one-time event in Albany. Founded by Matthew Eastman, its popularity has grown to the point that 32 shows are scheduled this year, a Web site states.
The gun show closed at 5 p.m. Sunday.
Accidental shootings at gun shows are not common, but they do occur. In May, a gun dealer and his stepson were wounded in an accidental shooting at a Florence, Ala., gun show. The dealer reached for his personal handgun from a side holster when it fired, hitting him in the hand and his stepson in the leg.
Even after the shooting Sunday, folks poured into the gun show. Some arrived with handguns strapped to their waists; others carried rifles and shotguns. Khaled Eid of Lilburn had his twin, 4-year-old boys in tow.
The incident, he said, was yet another reason to "get out of a sport I have loved since I was 12."
