Washington boy, 14, shot in face by teenage friend: police

PORTLAND Ore. (Reuters) - A 15-year-old boy in Washington state shot a 14-year-old friend in the face with a pistol taken from a gun safe in his home, leaving the younger teen in critical condition in hospital, authorities said on Friday. The Longview Police Department said the pair were home alone when they found the key to the safe and began handling the weapon that was inside. Police said the 15-year-old told them the handgun fired as he was returning it to the safe. Emergency responders who found the 14-year-old bleeding at the residence rushed him to PeaceHealth St. John Medical Center in Longview, from where he was flown to Portland's Oregon Health & Science University, which has a top-tier trauma center. Police said the parents of the 15-year-old, who were at work at the time, told officers they had hidden the key to the gun safe and did not think their children knew where it was. (This story corrects headline and first paragraph to Washington state from Oregon) (Reporting by Lee van der Voo; Editing by Daniel Wallis and Sandra Maler)