A grieving Westmoreland County father stood on his front yard in a place that looks like Eden but today feels like hell, and issued a plea.

"Gun owners," said Daniel Harr, "make sure your guns are locked up. Make sure they're unloaded."

He spoke just hours after his son, 11-year-old Christopher Ryan Harr, was accidentally shot to death while visiting a neighbor's house in the Ligonier Township village of Darlington.

Police said Christopher and two other boys, ages 12 and 11, were left alone at the house along Darlington Road when one of the boys found a hunting rifle upstairs.

Mr. Harr said authorities told him the ammunition clip had been taken out of the gun but a single bullet was left in the chamber.

Sometime around 7 p.m. Friday, one of the boys pointed the gun at Christopher, it discharged, and struck him in the face. He died instantly.

Ligonier Township Police and Westmoreland County detectives are continuing an investigation into the incident. Nobody answered the door today at the home where the shooting happened.

Yellow police tape fluttered near a large bloodstain on the back stoop of the house.

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