LAFAYETTE — The shooting of a 13-year-old Rossville boy by his twin brother did not happen because his grandfather left a loaded weapon exposed in his house, Walker County Sheriff Steve Wilson said.

Steven Ray Woody died on Sunday afternoon from wounds apparently inflicted by his brother with a 12-gauge shotgun blast to the neck and jaw, Wilson said.

Progress in the investigation indicates the shooting was accidental, and Charles Myers, the grandfather, seems to have been cleared of any wrongdoing.

“It doesn’t look like the grandfather had any knowledge that the boys were going to be there in the home (on Sunday),” the sheriff said.

The boys’ mother picked them up from their grandfather’s house early Sunday morning, Wilson said.

After they left, he locked the house and went out of town.

“At some point during the day Sunday, the mother unlocked the house and let them back in,” Wilson said.

Wilson said he did not know why the mother took them back to the grandfather’s house in Fairview at 215 Lytle Road.

“If anybody is negligent it would be the mother, not the grandfather, but only if we can prove the mother knew the weapon was there,” he said.

“Nobody has been charged with anything,” Wilson said Tuesday.

Lookout Mountain Judicial Circuit District Attorney Herbert “Buzz” Franklin said on Tuesday he did not want to speculate on any possible charges