RAYMOND A 9-year-old Raymond boy was in serious condition at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle on Friday night after sustaining a gun shot wound to the abdomen when his brother apparently shot him with a rifle earlier in the afternoon.

The Pacific County Sheriffs Office is still investigating the incident, but a spokesman ruled it a likely accident.

Pat Matlock, spokesman for the Pacific County Sheriffs Office, said the gun was a .22-caliber rifle and that the two brothers appeared to have been target shooting with their father when the father turned away for a moment.

The 9-year-old boy was allegedly shot by his 10-year-old brother at a home in the 300 block of Mill Creek Road east of Raymond. The wounded boys grandmother put him in a vehicle and began transporting him to the hospital after the incident.

Pacific County 911 dispatch was called at 1:02 p.m. and medics met the grandmother and victim en route to Willapa Harbor Hospital, Matlock said.

The shooting occurred in a rural area on a road that runs parallel to State Route 6.

It looks like an accident, Matlock said Friday afternoon as deputies were still at the scene. Its a pretty remote area and it would take aid a long time to get out there so the grandmother scooped up the boy and met them on their way to the hospital.

The boy was taken to Willapa Harbor Hospital and then air-lifted to Harborview Medical Center. He was still being treated Friday night when a nursing supervisor gave his condition as serious.