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Snowmachiner injured when rifle discharges

By STEFAN MILKOWSKI , Staff Writer

A boy from Beaver was injured Wednesday after the rifle he was carrying while snowmachining accidentally discharged. Keith Billy, 14, is in stable condition at the Alaska Native Medical Center in Anchorage.

Billy said he was about a half-mile from the Yukon River town 150 air miles north of Fairbanks when he hit a bump in deep snow going about 25 mph. The jolt was enough to knock the .30-30 rifle he was carrying into the air.

Moments later, Keith said he hit another bump that threw him from the machine. The rifle discharged when it hit the ground and the bullet passed through his left arm. The bullet entered the arm near the armpit and exited through the shoulder.

"They said I'm doing real good right now," he said Friday afternoon in a phone interview from his hospital room.

Keith said he had lost feeling and had no pulse in the arm Thursday, but gained both back Friday.

After the accident, he was on the ground for 10 or 15 seconds before he realized what had happened. Then he jumped back on the snowmachine, which was still running.

The ride to town hurt a lot, he said.

"He drove himself back," said Nora Billy, Keith's grandmother. "He came back and collapsed."

No alcohol was involved in the accident and no foul play is suspected, according to Alaska State Troopers.

"He took the gun," his grandmother said, "but he didn't know it was loaded."

Evacuation took a long time because Keith needed blood first, he said. David Thumma, a health aide at the Beaver Health Clinic, gave first aid. Then Keith and his mother, Birdie Billie, were flown to Fairbanks Memorial Hospital and on to the Anchorage.

It was a tough trip, Birdie Billie said, "seeing your kid hurt."

Birdie gives thanks to Thumma and Guardian Air, which evacuated her son.

Keith said he will probably be in the hospital through Christmas.