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A teenage boy was fatally wounded with a gunshot wound to his chest in Nanticoke on Sunday, Sept. 1, authorities said. The victim was identified as Hunter Sipple, 17, the following day.
The shooting with a handgun was "preliminarily accidental" pending further investigation, Nanticoke Police Chief Michael Roke told Daily Voice.
"It's been a pretty whirlwind week," Roke said on Friday, Sept. 6. "We have more people coming in for interviews, even today."
An autopsy was conducted on Tuesday. Daily Voice reached out to Luzerne County Coroner Jill Matthews who was not available for comment on Thursday, Sept. 5, or Friday, Sept. 6.
Luzerne County First Assistant District Attorney Tony Ross said his office is expected to release something "early next week."
Sipple was shot at about 4 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 1 at a home on Minden Court, according to the police.
A GoFundMe campaign was organized to help Hunter's family with funeral expenses.
According to a copy of a search warrant filed in the investigation, cited by WNEP Newswatch 16 ABC, an 18-year-old witness gave investigators two different accounts of how the gun went off. The 18-year-old first said it discharged by falling off of a shelf onto the living room floor. Later, he said the gun fired while he was "fooling around" with the weapon, according to the search warrant quoted by the outlet.
WBRE/WYOU News (28/22) reported that it caught up with the 18-year-old, Michael Crawn Jr., on Thursday, Sept. 5 as he stood outside Nanticoke Police Headquarters. Crawn went willingly to be interviewed by detectives about the fatal shooting, the news outlet said.
Click here for the report by WNEP Newswatch 16.
Click here for the report by WBRE/WYOU (28/22)
Click here to view or donate to Hunter Sipple's GoFundMe.
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