The shooting death of a 15-year-old Lincoln County boy looks tobe accidental, officials said Tuesday.

Austin Wilkinson, 15, of 2495 Bootsie Trail, Smithdale, waspronounced dead of a gunshot wound at the University of MississippiMedical Center around 3 a.m. Tuesday after a Monday night incidentat his grandfather’s house on Cripple Lane, Lincoln County CoronerClay McMorris said. Officials said Wilkinson was shot in thehead.

The incident occurred a little after 8 p.m. Monday, officials said.The family took the boy to the King’s Daughters Medical CenterEmergency Room by personal vehicle, and he was flown out from thereto UMC.

“At this point everything indicates that it was an accident,” saidLincoln County Sheriff Steve Rushing. “We’re still looking into it.We’ve got some more folks to get statements from, but thepreliminary indication is that it was an accident.”

Rushing said the gun was a .22 revolver that Wilkinson used fortarget practice and hunting. Foul play is not suspected, hesaid.

“It looks like just a real tragic accident,” he said. “The familyis in our thoughts and prayers. This is a really sadsituation.”

Wilkinson is the son of Dwayne and Tonya Wilkinson, officials said.He was formerly a student at West Lincoln, but had most recentlybeen home schooling, officials said.

McMorris said an autopsy will be conducted. Jones Family FuneralHome in McComb will handle the arrangements, which areincomplete.