GIRL HURT IN `PLAYFUL' GUN INCIDENT

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, February 4, 1992                   TAG: 9202040349
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: RON BROWN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium
GIRL HURT IN `PLAYFUL' GUN INCIDENT
The shooting of a Roanoke teen-ager Saturday afternoon marks at least the third time in a week that city youngsters have been involved in gun-related incidents.
Unlike earlier incidents, Saturday's shooting involved a teen who playfully pointed a pistol in the direction of a 14-year-old girl.
The 17-year-old youth told police he didn't know the gun was loaded when it discharged, striking the girl in the leg.
Still, Roanoke police are alarmed at the continuing gun-related violence involving minors in the city.
Corinthia King of Downing Street Northwest was in front of her house shortly after 5 p.m. when she was shot. She was taken to Roanoke Memorial Hospital with a gunshot wound in her upper right thigh.
The 17-year-old told police he playfully warned the girl not to look at him or he would shoot her. When the gun discharged, he said he thought it had missed her until she showed him her wound.
The youth told police that someone had given him the gun, which he later tossed off a bridge crossing Interstate 581.
Fourteen Western Virginia children under the age of 18 died from gunshots in 1991 - as many as were killed by guns in the three previous years.
In Roanoke, three children were charged with murder last year. Forty-five were charged with malicious woundings involving guns.
In late January, officials at Patrick Henry High School found a semiautomatic pistol in the locker of a 16-year-old boy. That prompted City Council on Monday to ask the General Assembly to increase the punishment for those who carry guns on school property.
Last Monday, the manager of an Orange Avenue motel tried to confront two teen-agers who appeared to be pilfering the cash box from a soft-drink machine. He started to give chase but gave up when he saw that one of them was armed with what appeared to be a handgun.

by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB