A 12-year-old is lucky to be alive after being accidentally shot in the arm and chest Thursday.
Doctors said the bullet narrowly missed the boy's heart.
Police said the 12-year-old and his cousin were home alone at a house on William Bailey Drive off White's Creek Pike in Nashville when they found a gun.
The boy's father told News 2 the cousin held the gun to his son's chest and pulled the trigger three times before it went off.
"He pointed the gun at the chest and pulled the trigger, thinking nothing was going to happen," said Anthony Cross, the boy's father.
Nothing did.
"The second time he held the gun at the boy's chest and pulled the trigger; nothing happened," he continued. "When he pulled the trigger the third time, my son said something told him to move when he had the gun to his chest, he moved [to the side] and when he did, the bullet when through his arm and into his chest, right past his heart and landed in the bottom of his rib."
Cross said the doctors showed him x-rays
He hopes the shooting serves as a wake up call to other parents.
"You know he almost died so the only thing I can tell parents is I don't know if you think it ain't going to happen to you because I was in the same boat about a week ago. If you don't look your guns up your son could get shot and he may not be as lucky as mine,' he said.
The doctor told Cross the bullet missed his son's aorta by one-thousandth of an inch and he is undoubtedly lucky to be alive.
"Somebody had to have been praying for him because there is no other way he would have made it," said Cross.
The youth remains at Vanderbilt Children's Hospital Friday.
He is expected to be okay.
