Boy shoots self in finger while taking video

An 11-year-old accidentally shot himself in the finger while recording a cellphone video in St. Paul on Thursday night, but initially told police he’d been shot by an unknown suspect while walking home.

Officers responded to a 911 call just before 7 p.m. at the boy’s family’s residence in Dayton’s Bluff. The child reported he’d been walking home from a rec center when he was followed by someone who fired six shots at him in the area of Arcade Street and Minnehaha Avenue, according to Sgt. Toy Vixayvong, a St. Paul police spokesman.

He said he continued home, just over half a mile, to the area of Third and Mendota streets. Officers had suspicions that the shooting had happened in his home, Vixayvong said. St. Paul Fire Department medics took the child to the hospital for treatment for the gunshot injury to his finger.

Later, the boy told an investigator he’d accidentally shot himself and no one else was home at the time. Investigators obtained a search warrant and found two handguns in the home, and they’re looking into who they belong to, Vixayvong said.

State law makes it a gross misdemeanor for someone to negligently store or leave a loaded firearm in a place where the person knows, or reasonably should know, that is a child is likely to gain access. The St. Paul City Council approved a requirement in 2023 that firearms must be trigger-locked or safely stored and secured when not on the owner, or the owner could face a misdemeanor charge.

— Mara H. Gottfried