GRINDSTONE – Adults might face criminal negligence charges after a boy was accidentally shot in the back by another boy with a .22-caliber rifle as they hunted squirrels in thick woods off Route 11 on Thursday, state police said.

The victim, Trooper Jarod Stedman said, was lucky to be alive after the bullet hit him midback on his right side at about 12:50 p.m.

The victim and two other 10- to 13-year-old boys ran from the woods and met one boy’s father, who rushed the victim to Millinocket Regional Hospital. Hospital workers reported the incident to police.

Stedman, who would not release the boys’ names because they are juveniles, said the victim’s injury was serious but not life-threatening. The victim likely will be released from MRH today if he wasn’t released late Thursday, Stedman said.

“He’s very lucky,” Stedman said. “This is one of the situations where when you hear of it you have to think of the worst, but somebody was definitely looking out for that kid today.

“Any gunshot wound is serious,” he added.

The three boys are from East Millinocket and Medway, Stedman said.

The shooting occurred near the home of an uncle of one of boys. That uncle, who might have known what the boys were doing, could face criminal charges, as might anyone else who knew of the boys’ activities, Stedman said.

“Parents need to be very well aware [during] school breaks where kids are, who they are with and what they are doing,” Stedman said. “If they are going to be out in the woods with a firearm they need to be out there with an adult.”

Maine law requires anyone under age 16 to have adult supervision when using any type of firearm.

“We need to reiterate that we have seen a fair amount of this kind of thing here within the last few years. We really need a fair amount of cooperation to make sure parents know what their kids are doing,” he said.

Stedman, State Police Sgt. Mark Brooks and Troopers Thomas Fiske and Marc Poulin interviewed the victim, witnesses, and the youths’ parents, collected forensic evidence and reviewed the case with Assistant District Attorney James Aucoin.

Aucoin’s office will decide whether to press charges in connection with the accident when the investigation concludes, Stedman said. No timeline has been set.

The incident began with the three boys taking two .22-caliber rifles with them and hunting squirrels in the uncle’s backyard, Stedman said. Stedman would not say exactly how the rifle accidentally discharged, except to blame “reckless conduct.”

The boys’ parents and the boys were shook up but very cooperative, Stedman said.