A Hatfield Township Police vehicle.
A Hatfield Village resident is facing felony and misdemeanor charges, after allegedly shooting his 14-year-old son while roleplaying in a bedroom in the apartment.
Richard Virtue, 46, has been charged with felony endangering the welfare of children and misdemeanor recklessly endangering another person, in connection with the July 14 incident. According to the affidavit of probable cause, Hatfield Township Police were dispatched at 3:54 p.m. to an apartment in Hatfield Village for a reported shooting. The affidavit states that Virtue advised the 9-1-1 operator that he and his 14-year-old son were doing drills with a weapon in the master bedroom, when the weapon accidentally fired, striking the son in the arm.
Upon arrival to the scene, Hatfield Township Police Officer Ryan Saunders found the victim lying on a bed in the rear bedroom with a gunshot wound to his left forearm, the report states. Officer Saunders applied a tourniquet to the victim’s left arm before the Volunteer Medical Services Corps arrived and took over treatment. The victim was flown to Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia via medevac for further treatment, and was released later that evening, the affidavit states.
The affidavit notes that the weapon—a 9mm Glock 26—was located on the bed in the master bedroom, along with a single, spent shell casing. Virtue informed police that he had consumed “one finger” of vodka mixed with water about half an hour before the shooting, while he and his son were listening to music in the bedroom, the report states. Virtue also informed police that he was a military veteran of nearly 15 years, and had extensive knowledge of weapons and weapon safety, according to the affidavit.
According to the affidavit, the son began to ask Virtue about weapon safety, ways to carry the weapon and how to deploy the weapon quickly. It was at that time that the two began “role playing,” with the belief that the weapon was not loaded, the report states.
“I raised the gun and it fired,” Virtue told police, according to the affidavit. “I never put my finger on the trigger. It just went off.”
The affidavit states that Virtue said the shooting was the fault of his own negligence, and that he “stupidly had not made sure that the gun was rendered safe.” He added that he had no intention to shoot his son, according to the affidavit.
The charges against Virtue were filed on Friday, Aug. 17. North Penn Now has reached out to the Hatfield Township Police Department for comment, but has not received any response as of this writing.
Not the First Shooting at the Apartment
While conducting a search of the scene during the July 14 incident, Hatfield Township Police Sgt. John Ciarlello discovered an additional bullet hole in the west wall of the master bedroom that was unrelated to the incident, according to the affidavit. When asked, Virtue advised that the bullet hole was related to a prior accidental shooting that had gone unreported, the affidavit states.
Later, while being questioned at the police station, Virtue informed police that his son had found the same gun—unsecured—a few years prior, and accidentally fired a round while “playing” with it, the affidavit states. The bullet from that accidental shooting traveled through the master bedroom into another bedroom that the son shared with his brother, where it went through his brother’s mattress before entering another wall. The son was alone in the apartment at the time.
(Editor's note: All suspects and defendants are innocent until proven guilty. Should the defendant choose to issue a public statement, or is later found not guilty or has the charges dropped, we will update this article accordingly.)
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