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After Teen Was Shot, Mom Looked up 'Gunshots' on Internet, Did Not Take Him to Hospital for Seven Hours

By Makini Brice | Update Date: May 09, 2013 01:37 PM EDT

Even though doctors frown upon it, most of us have probably turned to the Internet when feeling sick - though hopefully in less severe cases. A Texas mother may be charged because her first refuge when her son was shot was Web MD, instead of a hospital.

The Houston Chronicle reports that the incident occurred earlier this week. The woman's 14-year-old son was spending time with 24-year-old Pete Jesse Rodriguez, who also lived in the home with the son and his mother. His relationship with the family is not clear.

The home's surveillance footage reveals that Rodriguez pointed a gun at the teen, "playing". Though the teen moved out of the line of fire, Rodriguez continued to point the gun at the boy. Finally, he pulled the trigger, with the bullet hitting the teenager in the leg.

KHOU reports that the boy lay on the floor for several minutes before pulling himself to his feet. Then, instead of going to a hospital, he and his mother looked up gunshots on the website WebMD.com.

It was not until seven hours after the teen was shot that his mother finally took him to a nearby hospital.

The news does not seem to be astonishing to a neighbor, who was interviewed by Click 2 Houston. Named Shereen, the woman said, "I'm horrified about what happened...They have vicious dogs that go loose and there's a lot of traffic that is like only there 30 seconds and leaves. This is a terrific neighborhood. There's only one blight on it and it's that house right there."

The teenager is reportedly in stable condition.

Rodriguez has been arrested on one charge of injury to a child with intent to commit serious bodily injury. He is being held on a bail of $151,500.

Investigators are also looking into the possibility of pressing charges against the mother. If police do file charges against the boy's mother, it is likely that the charge will be injury to a child by omission.

A look on the Web MD website does not reveal a page for gunshots or gunshot wounds. Looking up "gunshot wounds" leads to a first result of "puncture wounds", while a search for "gunshot" leads to a top result of "neck pain".

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