Tyrone man gets probation in accidental shooting

Dick pleads guilty to criminal charges for injuring 5-year-old

HOLLIDAYSBURG -- A Tyrone man who accidentally shot a 5-year-old child in her upper arm in November 2021 has rendered guilty pleas to criminal charges in exchange for a sentence of 10 years' probation.

Raulin L. Dick, 31, presented the guilty pleas Friday in Blair County Court to a second-degree felony of endangering the welfare of a child and to a second-

degree misdemeanor of recklessly endangering another person.

Two felony counts of aggravated assault were dropped as part of the negotiated plea presented by First Assistant District Attorney Nichole Smith.

"I just want to apologize," Dick said in court where he became emotional as he spoke to Senior Judge Timothy M. Sullivan. "I'm sorry."

Defense attorney Benjamin Kahn told Sullivan that the shooting was purely accidental.

"There was not a hint of malice or intent to harm this child," Kahn said.

The child's mother, who was with Dick inside a residence on the 1400 block of Bald Eagle Avenue, said that what happened to her daughter "was the result of negligence and carelessness."

She also referenced statistics indicating that children are injured and killed every day with firearms.

"Treat every firearm as though it's loaded," the mother said in an attempt to raise awareness of how the incident could have been prevented.

Tyrone police, in filing charges against Dick, acknowledged that the 9 mm fired when he was attempting to demonstrate how the gun operates.

During a court hearing in July 2022, Tyrone police officer Scott Beale testified that both Dick and the woman believed the gun to be unloaded because it didn't have a magazine. But Beale said the gun was capable of having a round in the chamber, which would have made it a loaded firearm.

Sullivan, after that hearing, declined to dismiss the aggravated assault charges and said it would be up to a jury to decide if Dick acted recklessly when handling the gun. The bullet struck the child in her upper arm as she sat at a table about 2 feet away, court documents state.

Beale, who responded to the shooting, applied a tourniquet to the child's arm and after learning that an ambulance was seven minutes away, transported the child and her mother to Tyrone Hospital while Dick followed in a separate vehicle.

In court Friday when Dick became emotional, Sullivan told him that his reaction was understandable. The judge also told Dick that his guilty pleas were a demonstration of his willingness to take responsibility for what happened.

In addition to 10 years' probation, Dick's sentence prohibits him from using or possessing any firearm.

Sullivan also said that if five years of the probationary sentence passes without incident, then Dick could petition the court to consider early termination of the sentence.

Mirror Staff Writer Kay Stephens is at 814-946-7456.