A mother is facing child endangerment charges and her son illegal gun possession charges after a 16-year-old boy was shot in the leg during a game of Russian roulette in Scicuate, Massachusetts.
Scicuate Police Chief Brian Stewart stated that 18-year-old William Rafferty and his mother, 55-year-old Louellyn Lambros were arrested after a three-day investigation that was initiated after the 16-year-old was taken to South Shore Hospital with a gunshot wound.
According to Stewart:
The story we were told just didn’t add up. All these people fabricated a story to cover up what really was going on.
The Smith and Wesson 38 Special that was used in the game is believed to have been stolen from a West Wind Acres, Norwell home by the 16-year-old. The Sentry safe where the revolver was kept was reported stolen by the homeowner after he returned from a night away. The two teenagers had spent the night at the home with his daughter.
According to Stewart, the game began when Rafferty pointed the gun at his own head and pulled the trigger. When the gun did not fire, the 16-year-old pointed the gun at his leg, and the rest as they say, was history.
At the hospital, officials were told that the 16-year-old had been shot by an intruder, but the story was not believed. A search of the home where the boy was shot failed to turn up the gun, but police did find a speed-loader, which they believe disproved the intruder story. When the gun was found in an animal hole at Wompatuck State Park, Rafferty and his mother were arrested.
Rafferty was charged with illegal possession of a firearm and ammunition, receiving stolen property over $250, and being an accessory before and after the fact of a felony, reckless endangerment of a child, and filing a false police report.
Lambros’s charges included: being an accessory after the fact of a felony, filing a false police report, reckless endangerment of a child, and contributing to the delinquency of a minor.
Both Rafferty and Lambros pleaded not guilty.
The 16-year-old remains in a stable condition at Boston’s Children’s Hospital. He is expected to face a number of felony charges, including breaking and entering.
