4 Wounded, Including 5-Year-Old Child, in Family Shootout in West Virginia

An argument at a West Virginia family gathering Friday night erupted into an exchange of gunfire, leaving four people — including a child — hospitalized with non-lifethreatening injuries.

One of the injured people was one of two gunmen, the Mercer County Sheriff’s Department said, according to the Bluefield Daily Telegraph. A second suspect initially fled the scene but later surrendered and was being held on a $1 million cash bond at the Southern Regional Jail.

WVNS identified the shooter who turned himself in as 21-year-old Christopher Wilborn Jr., who has been charged with four counts of wanton endangerment and one count of malicious assault.

Investigators say the second gunman appears to have been acting in self-defense.

Mercer County Detective-Lieutenant S.A. Summers told the Daily Telegraph the second gunman may be sent to a trauma center for further treatment. Investigators have not released the names the victims.

“And the two people shooting were all family,” Sommers said. “It was not an indiscriminate type what people call a mass shooting. This was a argument and a fight between family.”

The shooting took place at the Days Inn Conference Center near Princeton.

“It appears they were exchanging gunfire and at least three family bystanders were struck,” Sommers said.

WVNS reported that the child shot was 5 years old, and that another adult suffered a graze wound to the face but did not seek medical treatment.

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[Featured image: Christopher Wilborn Jr/Southern Regional Jail]