Tahuya, Washington, May 27: A 15-year-old girl used a hunting bow to shoot her father with an arrow after he grounded her and took her cell phone, then hid in the woods until she was arrested, authorities said.
The man, who told officers about the Wednesday evening attack, was airlifted from the rural, forested Tahuya, Washington, area to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle and was listed Thursday in serious condition. He was shot once in the torso, authorities said.
The man told the sheriff's dispatcher that his daughter prevented him from calling for help after she shot him in their house. After she fled into the woods behind the home with the bow and arrows, he crawled out a window, got in his truck and drove to the closest neighbor, about a third of a mile away, Mason County detective William Adam said Thursday.
A Special Weapons and Tactics team surrounded the girl in the woods and arrested her for investigation of first-degree assault. The girl was not injured but was taken to Mary Bridge Children's Hospital because she was despondent, Adam said.
The man has sole custody of the girl and is apparently her only relative in the area, where they have lived for at least eight years, Adam said. Her mother lives out of state and has no contact with the girl.
Authorities had not yet been able to interview the girl or get more information from the father on Thursday.
“We just have the father saying he was doing parental discipline. He took the cell phone away, grounded her and she shot him,” Adam said. “It's ridiculous.”
Adam was not aware of any previous charges against the girl or whether she had gotten in any trouble at school.
Prosecutors didn't immediately return a call for comment.
Tahuya is about 35 miles (55 kilometers) west of Seattle. AP
