JOHNSON CREEK - An 11-year-old Johnson Creek boy died from a gunshot wound Thursday at his home. Foul play is not suspected and the sheriff's department said this morning it appears the shooting was accidental.
According to the Jefferson County Sheriff's Department, dispatchers received a report of the shooting in the town of Farmington at approximately 2:15 p.m. Thursday. The deceased person was Joshua J. Nimm, 11, of W5098 River Road, Johnson Creek.
Deputies, along with personnel from the Johnson Creek Police Department, Johnson Creek EMS and Fort Atkinson paramedics, all responded to the residence where the shooting occurred.
There, with his father, Nimm was located with a fatal gunshot wound. He was pronounced dead by the Jefferson County Coroner's office about 35 minutes later. The cause of death was ruled to be a single, .22 caliber gunshot wound to the head.
“We are ruling that it is an accidental shooting,†Jefferson County Detective Sgt. Larry Lee said. “The child was getting ready for school and decided to skip school. He was playing video games and we found out he had a .22 caliber rifle that belongs to him. He had access to the rifle and a magazine was kept somewhere else by his parents. He was familiar with the rifle and had been shooting it a couple of times a month - he lived out in the country, so that was nothing unusual.â€
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Lee said it appeared, following the department's investigation, that after playing a combat video game called “Halo,†Nimm took the gun and tried to recreate some of the things that had occurred in the game. With an automatic rifle, Lee said there can sometimes be confusion over whether it contains a magazine or not, and this confusion likely led to Nimm's death.
“He took the magazine out and forgot to eject a round that was in the chamber. He probably thought the gun was unloaded,†Lee said.
Lee said numerous people, including Nimm's parents, his school teachers and his bus driver, were all interviewed and stated he had shown no signs of depression or any differences in his personality recently.
“Dad came home in the afternoon and when he came in the house, the child was in the home and was deceased,†Lee said.
Lee said the incident shows the need for extreme safety with firearms.
“The safety issue with weapons is so important. People should always treat them like they are loaded,†he said.
Nimm was a student at Johnson Creek Middle School. Funeral arrangements are pending at Hafemeister Funeral Home in Watertown.
