A Pennsylvania father has been charged after his 7-year-old son used his pistol to shoot and wound his 11-year-old brother.

Mark Anthony Dunlap Sr., 35, of Cogan Station, turned himself in Wednesday and was released on $10,000 unsecured bail on a charge of endangering the welfare of children.

He is accused of failing to seek immediate treatment for his wounded son.

Lycoming Regional Police said they were told of the Oct. 14 shooting on Nov. 5, the same day the boys’ mother, who lives in Bradford County, said she learned of it from the victim who claimed he had a secret.

The 11-year-old did not want his father to know he told her he had been shot by his brother, police said.

The younger boy shot his brother with Dunlap’s 45-caliber handgun while they were with him in Cogan Station, they said.

The victim told police he asked his father to take him to the hospital but he refused, claiming the boy would be taken away if he did.

The following is taken from the arrest affidavit:

The boy said he missed several days of school and when he returned, blood from the wound seeped through a bandage and his shorts prompting him to see the school nurse.

The school contacted Dunlap who claimed his son had fallen on rocks. He did not immediately return the boys to their mother telling her they were ill.

When he did return them, she took the 11-year-old to Robert Packer Hospital in Sayre where investigators said a doctor confirmed he had been shot with the bullet entering the right upper thigh/lower buttocks and exiting through the left buttock.

Bullet fragments remained inside the child, the mother said a doctor told her.

Dunlap confirmed that account, police said. The arrest documents do not say how the 7-year-old was able to get the gun.