KITSAP COUNTY, Wash. - Sheriff's detectives say a four-year-old boy loaded a shotgun and shot his mother.

The Kitsap County Sheriff's Office says deputies were dispatched to a home in the 10400 block of Glenwood Road SW at 4:16 p.m. The 23-year-old woman suffered a non-life threatening wound to her side.

Detectives say it appears the boy loaded a shotgun cartridge into a 12-gauge semi-automatic shotgun and pulled the trigger.

The mother told detectives she was in the bedroom and turned her back on her son as she talked on the phone. She did not hear him load the cartridge. She said she didn't even know her son had gotten access to the gun.

The Kitsap Sun reports the woman was hit with birdshot.

Deputy Scott Wilson says sometime before the shooting, the boy's father had given him a shotgun cartridge after the boy had expressed an interest in firearms. The father was not home when the shooting happened.

The woman was taken to Tacoma General Hospital where she was treated and released.

While deputies consider the shooting an accident, they will be forwarding the case to the Kitsap County Prosecutor's Office to determine if charges are warranted.