COTO DE CAZA : Boy Who Was Shot Listed Satisfactory

A Laguna Hills boy was in satisfactory condition Wednesday after being shot in the abdomen while target shooting.

Reed Reichwald, 14, remained under sedation after surgery at Mission Hospital Regional Medical Center in Mission Viejo.

The incident occurred around 5:30 p.m. Tuesday when Reed was target shooting with a 14-year-old friend and the friend’s father, said Reed’s 19-year-old brother, who asked not to be named. He said it is not known whether Reed or his companions fired the .22-caliber rifle shot that hit him.

Sheriff’s Lt. Richard Olson said Reed was in a wilderness area south of a Coto de Caza shooting range provided for residents of the gated community. The boy was first taken to a walk-in medical clinic in Mission Viejo by his companions and then was transferred to the hospital. Olson said the case is under investigation.

Reed’s brother said the boy has not been coherent enough to talk.

“I don’t know what they were shooting at, but one of the bullets ricocheted and hit him in the left side of the abdomen. . . . They may have been aiming too close to the ground.”

Reed has not completed a gun safety course and was not adept at handling a rifle, his brother added.

The Coto Valley Country Club Hunt Lodge, where residents of the neighborhood can practice skeet and trap shooting, is located on the south end of the community. The property includes a 1,200-acre stretch of wilderness that borders northeast Mission Viejo.

Lodge manager Brian Ballard said he had not heard of the incident and that the group did not sign in to use the target practice area.