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Charges Filed After Girl In Skunk Costume Was Shot

Charges have been filed against a Pennsylvania man who shot what he thought was a skunk but was really his 8-year-old cousin in a black-and-white Halloween costume.

Twenty-four-year-old Thomas Edward Grant of Jackson Center, Mercer County, was charged Thursday with aggravated assault, reckless endangerment and simple assault.

The girl was hit in the shoulder, arm, back and neck. She remained in critical condition from the shooting in rural Rochester, about 30 miles northwest of Pittsburgh.

Police say the girl was playing hide-and-seek behind the Grant family’s home Saturday night when she was shot once with a 12-gauge shotgun. She was wearing a black body costume and a black hat with a white feather.

Grant has a preliminary hearing Nov. 1. It wasn’t clear whether he had an attorney.

Police say a costumed 9-year-old girl was accidentally shot outside a western Pennsylvania home during a Halloween party by a relative who thought she was a skunk.

New Sewickley Township police say the girl was over a hillside and wearing a black costume and a black hat with a white tassel. Chief Ronald Leindecker told the Beaver County Times that a male relative mistook her for a skunk and fired a shotgun, hitting her in the shoulder, arm, back and neck Saturday night.

Leindecker told the newspaper that the girl was alert and talking when she was flown to Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, about 30 miles away. Her condition was unavailable.

Leindecker says the man hadn’t been drinking and he doesn’t know whether charges will be filed. New Sewickley police said Sunday that decision will be made in a few days.

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