Boy dies after tussle for gun
2003-01-09 14:01
Somerset East - A scuffle between a boy and a farm worker on a Somerset East farm over possession of a .22 rifle ended in the death of a 14-year-old bystander when a shot went off accidentally, police said on Thursday.
Captain Erris Claassen said the shooting happened on Wednesday after the owner of the Buffelfontein farm left his rifle unattended in his bakkie, while working on a kraal.
He said a boy of 12 saw the rifle and took it from the bakkie. However, a farm worker saw him with the gun and demanded that he hand it over immediately, said Claassen.
There was a tussle for the gun, a shot went off and the bullet hit 14-year-old Moos Tiervlei, from the nearby Grootvlakte farm, in the head. He died immediately.
The 12-year-old has not been arrested and is in the custody of his parents.
The farmer who left the gun unattended has not been charged.
- SAPA