Condition of Orange County Teen Upgraded

Ronnie Eastwood, Jr, was shot in the neck just a few doors from his Orange County home. The shooting happened at a house on Patrick Drive.

"I am concerned about the boy because he got shot, and it was my gun that was involved in it," parent Eddie Lunsford said. "I feel for him. I feel for his family. All I can say is that as near as I can tell it was an accident."

Lunsford owns the home where the shooting happened, and said that he and his wife left his three daughters ages 12, 13 and 14 and a 4-year-old neighbor's child at the house alone that afternoon. They say Ronnie Eastwood arrived later, and after that the parents are not sure what happened.

According to witnesses, there were six or seven children in the home alone. Ken Maynard was one of the first people on the scene.

"The boy, with three children walking down the road, obviously had some wound to the neck, they said he's been shot. They had a phone in their hand, I called 911. We got him laid down, put pressure on it and stopped the bleeding until the ambulance got here."

Despite an Orange County Sheriff's Department investigation, the Lunsfords still do not know how the children got the rifle, if it was loaded, or how it went off.

"I've taught my children to respect fire arms, even if the fire arm is unloaded it's dangerous," Lunsford said.

The boy was airlifted to UNC Hospitals Monday and went straight into surgery.