A 16-year-old Slidell boy accused of stealing a semi-automatic handgun from a neighbor’s vehicle Sunday night was accidentally shot in the face by his alleged accomplice, Sheriff Jack Strain said Monday.

The victim remained in stable condition Monday morning in a Southshore hospital after suffering the .32-caliber Berretta gunshot wound to the right cheek.

“Initial indication is that it was accidental,” Strain spokesman George Bonnett said. “The boys were playing with the gun when it discharged.” Bonnett refused to release the names of the victim and the 15-year-old shooter because they are minors.

Deputies responded to the shooting just before midnight Sunday after a 911 call originated from the incident on Meredith Drive in the Northwoods subdivision.

Deputies found the victim lying in a pool of blood in front of his home, Bonnett said.

Through a haze of flashing police and ambulance lights, the victim told deputies he and a friend stole the gun “earlier in the evening,” Bonnett said. Later, when the duo inspected the gun, it discharged and hit the victim below the right eye, he told deputies.

Firefighters from Fire Protection District 1 and Acadian Ambulance treated the victim on the scene. He was later rushed to Slidell Memorial Hospital for treatment. On Monday, he was driven to an unspecified Southshore hospital for further treatment, Bonnett said.

In the mayhem that followed the shooting, the shooter tossed the gun into a nearby abandoned home and fled.

Soon after their investigation started, deputies made telephone contact with the shooter and convinced him to turn himself in to authorities. He arrived at the scene shortly thereafter and was taken to the Sheriff’s Office complex for questioning, Bonnett said.

Evidence soon mounted, and the shooter was transported to the Florida Parishes Juvenile Detention Center and booked with one count of negligent injuring and one count of simple burglary.

Bonnett called the wound, typically a life threatening injury, a “miracle” because it wasn’t fatal.