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Police: Child playing with Nerf gun shot by drunk man with real gun

The child suffered an open fracture below his left kneecap and would need surgery to remove all the bullet fragments.
Credit: Seminole County Sheriff's Office

It started as a harmless game – but quickly turned into a horrifying reality.

WKMG reports a boy and his friends were playing with Nerf guns when police say a 30-year-old man loaded a real gun.

The Sanford Police Department says Anthony Knuth was wasted on whiskey and beer when he pulled the trigger, shooting a 7-year-old boy in the kneecap.

WESH says the boy’s mother was in the home, which belongs to her friend. Knuth is her friend’s brother. According to police, she heard a loud pop – ran in to see what happened – and the children told her “Anthony shot him.”

She reportedly thought he was shot by a BB gun, so she took him to the hospital in a taxi. Doctors told her – he was shot with a .22 caliber bullet – and he would need surgery to remove the lead fragments.

WKMG says Knuth told officers he had taken shots of Southern Comfort, downed several beers – and didn’t remember shooting the child. He was arrested and charged with child neglect with great bodily harm and using a weapon while under the influence of alcohol.

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