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16-Year-Old Charged With Shooting Stepfather

PINE CITY, Minn. (WCCO) -- A 16-year-old boy has been charged with shooting his stepfather in the head in Pine City.

David Doberstein has been charged with attempted second degree murder and two counts each of second-degree assault and assault with a dangerous weapon.

Police said they were called to the home around 4:49 a.m. in the 10000 block of Beroun Crossing Road on Wednesday morning.

They found 41-year-old Mark McKeller sitting in a chair and bleeding from his head.

At first they thought he had suffered a stroke and hit his head, so he was rushed to the hospital for stroke treatment. But as they began doing CAT scans, they found the bullet in his head behind his right eye.

Officers spoke to McKeller, who was conscious and talking, but he couldn't remember what happened. McKeller's wife was asleep and also didn't know. She told police that her son, Doberstein, woke her up and told her he thought something was wrong with McKeller.

Doberstein, meanwhile, told police that he was trying to use a pistol to scare a dog so he could sneak out of the house.

Initially, he said the gun went off accidentally as he was leaving the home and said he would not want to hurt his dad.

But when police said there was no physical way it could have happened the way that he explained it, Doberstein admitted to officers that he and McKeller had not gotten along. He said they got in an argument a few weeks earlier and McKeller put his hands around Doberstein's neck.

Doberstein admitted he got the gun from the gun safe and said he was going to kill himself or his stepfather. He told officers that he couldn't kill himself so he went up to his stepfather, who was sleeping in the chair, put the gun behind his head, and fired.

He told police, "I snapped and didn't know how to stop," explaining that he needed help and he didn't want to do it. He also told police he thought about killing himself, but was able to talk himself out of it.

Officers were able to get the gun from the house as evidence.

Doberstein was arrested and prosecutors will try to certify him as an adult. He is currently at the Regional Juvenile Detention Center.

McKeller had to have surgery and is listed in critical condition.

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