Shooter said he did it on a dare

A man is in jail after shooting a kid in the leg with a pellet gun.

According to Ironton Police Detective Joe Ross, around 6:45 p.m. on Sunday, a 13-year-old boy was riding his bike on the overpass on North Second Street. A black vehicle with four occupants drove by.

“It slowed down and shot at him, ultimately striking him in the leg with a pellet gun,” Ross said, adding the boy was taken to the hospital.

On Monday, James D. Cade, 18, of Ironton, was arrested for the shooting and was charged with felonious assault and incarcerated in the Lawrence County Jail. The charge is a second-degree felony, which carries a penalty of two to eight years in prison and a fine up to $15,000, if the person is found guilty.

Cade was a passenger in the vehicle.

Ross said that Cade said, in a statement to police, he and his friends were driving around and just decided to shoot the boy on the bike.

“He didn’t really have a reason, just young kids being that way,” Ross said. “He said that one (of the other people in the car) dared him to do. He said he was shooting at the bike, not the boy. But nonetheless, he hit the boy. He could have hit him in the eye, it could have ricocheted and hit anywhere, you don’t know really.”

Ross said the shooting seemed to be an isolated incident.

“Right now, that is the only person we know that got shot,” he said.

Ross added the incident was all over Facebook and social media and that is how they tracked Cade down.

“I want to thank the public for their information on this and helping to identify and make an arrest on this case,” he said. “We were happy to arrest him and put him in jail.”

Cade will be arraigned in Ironton Municipal Court on Thursday morning.

Ross said it was possible that the other occupants in the car could be charged.

“We don’t know at this time,” he said, adding that any charges would be a decision made by the prosecutor.