Bismarck police investigated three instances of guns going off in city limits over the weekend, including one incident where an 8-year-old boy was shot in the back with a BB.

Sgt. Dwight Offerman said the 8-year-old boy was swinging in his back yard on the 100 block of Cherokee Avenue around 7:30 p.m. Saturday when he heard a loud pop and felt something hit him in the back.

The boy was taken to a Bismarck emergency room, where X-rays revealed a BB was lodged in the lower left side of his back, Offerman said.

He said a neighbor had seen another neighbor's grandson shooting BBs at a dog the same day, but officers were unable to locate the boy or the grandfather. The case remains under investigation.

n Around 5:30 p.m. Friday, someone reported seeing people shooting a gun out of an apartment building at passing cars, Offerman said.

A 14-year-old boy was cited with discharing a firearm in city limits for allegedly firing an air-soft gun at passing vehicles.

n A 24-year-old Bismarck man reported at 12:15 a.m. Saturday that his 9 mm pistol had accidentally discharged while he was working with it in his apartment on the 200 block of West Interstate Avenue,Offerman said. A bullet went through an interior wall, bounced off a microwave and became lodged into a second interior wall. The bullet never left the man's apartment.

The report will be forwarded to the city attorney.

(Reach reporter Jenny Michael at 250-8225 or jenny.michael@bismarcktribune.com.)