A juvenile boy, who had been given a sawed-off shotgun, was deliberately pointing the weapon at another boy when it discharged. The victim was struck in the face; the bullet caused a large wound of entrance from glabella to nares and he was killed. Although witnesses recalled only one shot, the autopsy recovered two projectiles, one a large mutilated bullet and the other a deformed rimless cartridge case. The cartridge case had been previously expended, but the empty case had been placed base down in the bore ahead of the bullet when the gun was fired. The juvenile in possession of the gun, being ignorant of its mechanism and the fact that it was loaded, tried to load it with the empty casing in order to have a functional weapon. He and his companion were charged with criminally negligent homicide. 4 figures and 6 references