MOON LAKE - With his 10-year-old friend shaking and bleeding, Matthew Porterfield knew he must act quickly. He needed to come up with a story, and do something with the gun.
Matthew, 15, ran across the dirt road to his friend's mobile home early Thursday afternoon and chucked the .22-caliber handgun over the fence. When Pasco sheriff's deputies and paramedics arrived, Matthew was back on his front porch where his friend had accidentally shot himself.
An ambulance carried Cody Dials from the home on Yogi Place to a nearby field, where a rescue helicopter took off about 1:30 p.m., carrying him away to Bayfront Medical Center in St. Petersburg. A bullet had passed through his left leg near the knee.
Meanwhile, Matthew got his story straight with 20-year-old Oscar Toledo, who also lives at the mobile home.
"I heard the shot and looked out there and saw him standing there (in his own yard) kind of leaning up against the van," Matthew told a St. Petersburg Times reporter afterward.
Toledo said he had been sleeping until Matthew woke him up after the gunshot. The two of them went across the road, Toledo said, carried the bleeding 10-year-old across the street to their front porch, and called 911.
Where did the gun come from?
"(Cody) said he found it on the road on the way to the bus stop," Toledo said.
"He said he found it in the grass, picked it up and started playing with it," Matthew said.
But that whole story was a lie, authorities say. The truth, or something closer to it, came out only after Matthew and Toledo were questioned separately by deputies.
Matthew told a reporter that he had lied earlier because he was scared he would be held responsible for his younger friend's accident.
"I've got eight charges pending, all felonies," he said, "and some little kid just shot himself in my front yard."
The charges, Matthew said, resulted from when he and some friends broke into a shrimp boat and had an impromptu party, drinking alcohol and shooting off flares.
Toledo also was afraid of what the authorities would think. He said he is on house arrest at the mobile home where the shooting occurred. His criminal record includes charges of burglary and battery.
Matthew said the gun belongs to his father, Steven Porterfield. His dad kept it under the couch on their front porch, Matthew said.
Matthew and Cody were skipping school. Matthew was playing with the gun, shooting it into the dirt from his porch. Cody wanted to try, Matthew said.
"I told him if he hurt himself it was his own fault," Matthew said. He handed the 10-year-old the gun.
Cody pulled the trigger, but the gun didn't fire, Matthew said. "He tried to cock it and see if it had jammed," and with the gun against his leg, it went off.
A Sheriff's Office spokesman would not comment Thursday on whether charges might result from the incident.
"That is something we're looking into," Doug Tobin said, "as to why a weapon was left unattended on the front porch."
Cody's condition was unavailable Thursday evening, but Tobin said the Cypress Elementary student's injuries did not appear life threatening.
Tobin stressed the need for parents to educate their children on the dangers of guns and to keep guns safely locked up. For a free gun lock and educational packet, gun owners can call the sheriff's Crime Prevention Unit at (727) 834-3376.
Steve Thompson covers crime in Pasco County. He can be reached in west Pasco at 869-6245, or toll-free at 1-800-333-7505, ext. 6245. His e-mail address is sthompson@sptimes.com
