Condition of Wounded Girl Called Critical : Firearms: Westminster boy loaded a 12-gauge shotgun as children played in home and fired it, hitting 11-year-old schoolmate in the abdomen.

Police on Tuesday said an 11-year-old girl critically injured by a shotgun blast over the weekend was wounded when a playmate loaded the weapon and fired.

Investigators said it was not clear exactly what happened Saturday afternoon in the 10100 block of Northampton Avenue while the boy and girl played with three other children inside the home.

The girl, whose name was not released, remained in critical condition at UCI Medical Center in Orange with a gunshot wound to the abdomen, police said.

Her parents were at work when the boy grabbed the 12-gauge shotgun, found the shells and shot the girl, Westminster Police Sgt. Mike Mittelstaedt said.

The parents of the wounded girl could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

The boy apparently “was fascinated with the shotgun that the dad kept under the bed,” Mittelstaedt said. He said the boy and girl are classmates at McGarvin Junior High School in Westminster.

Police arrested the boy shortly after the shooting on suspicion of attempted murder and then released him to the custody of his parents, Mittelstaedt said. He said investigators believe that “all indications seem to be it was an accidental shooting.”

Police said they are still investigating the shooting and plan to present their findings to the district attorney’s office to determine if any charges will be filed against the boy or the parents of the girl.

Based on their investigation, police said they do not believe that the parents are criminally liable.

Accidental shootings are “a tremendous problem throughout the country,” said Gwen Fitzgerald, a spokeswoman for the Center to Prevent Handgun Violence in Washington.

“We lose hundreds of children” to accidental shootings, she said. Fitzgerald cited records compiled by the National Center for Health Statistics showing that more than 500 people 19 years old and younger died in accidental shootings in 1990.

In Orange County, more than 30 adults and children have died between 1987 and 1992 due to accidental shootings.

“Really this is one of the most preventable forms of gun violence,” Fitzgerald said.

Fitzgerald said her organization urges gun owners to lock up their weapons and make sure they are unloaded.