Silver Lake boy, 13, fatally shot by best friend

A 13-year-old Silver Lake boy was fatally shot in the chest Thursday afternoon by his best friend in what authorities said appears to be a tragic accident.

Lake County 911 dispatchers got a call around 4:30 p.m. Thursday seeking medical aid at a home on Bowens Lane, Lake County District Attorney Sharon Forster said in a news release Friday.

Lake County Sheriff’s deputies arrived and began administering CPR to a 13-year-old boy who had been shot in the chest. But the teen died at the scene, Forster said. The other boy also is a 13-year-old.

Oregon State Police and the sheriff’s office conducted an investigation, assisted by the OSP Crime Lab and the Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office, the district attorney said. Silver Lake is about 80 miles southeast of Bend.

“Preliminary evidence indicates that this was unintentional,” Forster wrote, but “the investigation is ongoing.”