9-Year-Old, Parents Will Not Be Charged in Shooting of Youth

SANTA CLARITA —  The district attorney’s office won’t file charges against a 9-year-old boy who shot a 14-year-old in the face with his parents’ rifle Saturday or against the youth’s parents for allowing the weapon to be accessible.

Assistant Dist. Atty. Dan Damon said the shooting is believed to have been accidental, but the father of the 9-year-old may face a charge of possessing a firearm in violation of his probation.

The condition of the shooting victim, Matthew Escarcega, was upgraded to good on Tuesday at Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital. The bullet from the .22-caliber semiautomatic rifle struck him in the jaw and stuck in his neck.

Escarcega was visiting the 9-year-old’s home on Walnut Springs Avenue in Canyon Country when the incident occurred Saturday afternoon.

Deputies were told two versions of what happened in the shooting, said Detective Jerry Johnson of the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station.

The 9-year-old initially said he heard a noise and fired the weapon at Escarcega, thinking the teen-ager was an intruder.

He later said he had ejected a cartridge from the gun and thought it was unloaded when he pointed it at Escarcega and pulled the trigger. The youngster said he asked Escarcega to leave the residence because his mother was due to arrive and he believed she might be upset if too many friends were in the house, Johnson said.

Authorities are not releasing the name of the younger boy because of his age.