Police say 7-year old shot to death outside Mercer Co. gun store

MERCER, Pa. (AP) - Authorities say a 7-year-old boy was shot to death when a gun accidentally went off as his father was getting into his truck outside a Mercer County gun store.

The boy was shot Saturday morning at Twigs Reloading Den in East Lackawannock Township. Store owner Leonard Mohney says it happened in the parking lot. The boy was shot when his father's handgun went off as the man got into the truck while holding the gun.

Police say 44-year-old Joseph V. Loughrey told them he had emptied the magazine but didn't realize a bullet was still in the chamber. Seven-year-old Craig Allen Loughrey was shot in the chest and died at the scene. State police are investigating the shooting as an accident.