A 17-year-old Brookville youth is in the hospital after being shot in the abdomen Tuesday night.

Saline County Sheriff Roger Soldan said Wednesday that the boy was cleaning a .22 caliber rifle that he didn’t know was loaded when it discharged into his abdomen. The bullet exited through the boy’s back, Soldan said. The incident occurred just before 10 p.m. Tuesday in the 300 block of Anderson in Brookville.

Soldan said the boy was transported to Salina Regional Health Center and that it was his understanding that after surgery, the boy was in stable condition.