Another sad story that has touched my life. A good friend of mine whom I've known for years and been very close to... his best friend's step brother died in an accidental shooting. It truly is a heart breaking tragedy. Sadly his younger brother Guy shot him in the chest as his younger sister looked on. I can't imagine this family's pain but they are def in my thoughts.
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Here is the news article
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Teen remembered for willingness to help others
Staunton River High School senior Mitchell Simmons died after an accidental shooting.
By Amanda Codispoti
981-3334
Counselors were on hand Tuesday at Staunton River High School, where students and staff were grieving the death of a 17-year-old boy who on Monday was accidentally shot at his home.
School spokesman Ryan Edwards confirmed that the student was senior Mitchell Simmons.
The Moneta teen was shot in the chest with a rifle at his home in the 3800 block of Saunders Grove Drive just before 5:30 p.m., said Maj. Ricky Gardner with the Bedford County Sheriff's Office.
Gardner said the victim and his 14-year-old brother were looking at the rifle when it fired. The younger brother had been holding the rifle.
"It was just an accident," Gardner said Tuesday. "There's no reason for us to believe it was anything other than an accident."
His parents were on their way home from work when the shooting happened, Gardner said.
Mitchell was flown to Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital, where he died.
The Simmons family did not want to be interviewed Tuesday. The sheriff's office is not releasing the names of the juveniles involved.
Neighbors said Mitchell Simmons was always willing to help them.
Just a few weeks ago, next-door neighbor Elizabeth Stevens called Mitchell, asking if he could help her husband bring in firewood.
"I'll be there in a minute," she remembered him saying.
Stevens said Mitchell was interested in enrolling at Virginia Military Institute and wanted to go into the military, following in the footsteps of his older brother.
Stevens' son, Glenn Stevens, also lives nearby and said Mitchell had helped him with yardwork.
"It's a real tragedy, and I really hate that it's happened," Glenn Stevens said. "He was a wonderful kid."
Simmons played on the high school's baseball team, and his younger brother is a freshman at the school, Edwards said.
"This is a horrible situation for that family, and anyone who came in contact with that child," he said.
Simmons' death is the second to hit the high school this year. In October, Tiffany S. LaPrade, a junior, was killed in a three-vehicle wreck while driving to school.
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