BOY ARRESTED IN SHOOTING SHOTGUN BLAST MISSES FAMILY DOWNSTAIRS.

Byline: Amy Raisin Darvish Staff Writer

VALENCIA - A 13-year-old boy faces a felony weapons charge after his arrest Tuesday morning on suspicion of firing a shotgun through a second-floor apartment and into the kitchen of a neighbor below, authorities said.

Detectives arrested the boy at 7:30 a.m. Tuesday at the Santa Clarita sheriff's station shortly after his parents arrived with the teen. The boy is scheduled to be arraigned in August in Sylmar Juvenile Court on one count of negligent discharge of a firearm, authorities said.

The Canyon Country teen was released to his parents by 10:30 a.m. Tuesday.

``The parents were just devastated,'' Detective Pat O'Neill of the Santa Clarita sheriff's station said after interviewing the family. ``They know, and the boy knows, how big of a tragedy this could have been. It's amazing no one was hurt.''

The boy and two friends were alone just after noon Monday in the second-floor apartment on Annes Circle in Canyon Country, where the teen was handling his father's shotgun, O'Neill said.

One shotgun blast went through the floor and through the kitchen ceiling of a woman who was standing at the kitchen sink, just feet from the blast.

``She thought her oven exploded,'' O'Neill said. ``There were three small children playing in a nearby bedroom. Apparently the boy immediately ran downstairs and apologized.''

Investigators served a search warrant at the apartment later that day and recovered one handgun, one rifle and the shotgun, as well as about 200 rounds of ammunition, according to O'Neill. All of the weapons were registered to the boy's father.

The district attorney will decide if the boy's father will face charges for failing to secure the weapons in a locked case where his son could not access the guns.

Amy Raisin Darvish, [phone]

amy.raisin(at)dailynews.com