Police: 17-Year-Old Boy Accidentally Shot In South Jersey Home

By Molly Daly

MOUNT LAUREL, N.J. (CBS) - Police say a Burlington County teenager is lucky to be alive after he was accidentally shot in the chest Saturday night in his home.

Mount Laurel police were called to the house on Marne Highway near Hartford Road just after 11 p.m. where they found the 17 year-old who had been shot in the chest. He claimed it was the work of a masked man who ran off.

Not long after, police spotted two young guys on foot -- 18 year-old Kurtis Cercone of Mount Laurel, and a 17-year-old from Trenton. Officers found two handguns in the older teen's car.

Investigators say the pair had taken a gun to the boy's house, and, as they handled it, the weapon accidentally went off.

Cercone and his friend are charged with several offenses, Cercone's being at Burlington County Jail and the 17-year-old's at the county juvenile detention center. They both face weapons charges.

Their host, whose was not seriously wounded, was taken to Cooper University Hospital.