Vicksburg police say they believe the shooting death of an 11-year-old boy from the Mississippi Gulf Coast was an accident.

Lt. Bobby Stewart said Christian B. Jordan, of Kiln, was shot in the chest Monday afternoon with a .22-caliber handgun while sitting with a friend in Christian’s father’s pickup outside Goldie’s Trail Barbeque restaurant, near Interstate 20.

Stewart said Christian’s father, Blue Jordan, went into the restaurant to pick up food and left his son and a 14-year-old, who’s a lifelong family friend, in the truck.

Warren County Coroner Doug Huskey said the 14-year-old was in the back seat and Christian was in the front. The older boy moved the gun as Christian turned to speak. It fired, and a bullet went through the seat into Christian.

The 14-year-old ran into the restaurant to get Blue Jordan, who ran to the truck and immediately began to drive to an emergency room when Warren County Deputy Billy Joe Heggins drove into the parking lot, Stewart said.

Blue Jordan waved down Heggins, who provided an escort to River Region Medical Center and alerted Vicksburg police, who responded to the hospital, Stewart said. Christian Jordan was pronounced dead at the hospital.

Blue Jordan had taken the boys to a hunting camp off the levee south of Delta, La., where they had been shooting turtles in the backwater, Stewart said. They stopped in Vicksburg on their way home.

Christian had just completed the sixth grade at Hancock Middle School, his father said.

“He was a wonderful boy,” Blue Jordan said Tuesday. “He was an outdoor kid. He loved hunting and fishing, and he played all sports, all of them.”

Christian’s death is believed to have been accidental and no charges have been filed, but all information from the case will be turned over to the office of District Attorney Ricky Smith, Stewart said.

Smith said Mississippi law does not prohibit having a loaded gun in a vehicle.