Boy shot in stomach by children with gun

ATLANTA --- An 11-year-old boy was hospitalized after being shot in the stomach by a group of children who had a gun.

The boy was inside a home in south Atlanta with several other children ranging in age from 11 to 13 around 8 p.m. Sunday, Atlanta Police spokesman James Polite said.

Paramedics brought the boy to the hospital and police later found the boy's mother.

Early Monday, police were still investigating who fired the gun and why the children were unsupervised. Officers seized the gun to determine if it is stolen.

BREVARD, N.C. --- The man charged in the beating death of hiker Meredith Emerson in Georgia has become a suspect in a similar case in North Carolina.

Transylvania County Sheriff David Mahoney said in an e-mail Monday that 61-year-old Gary Michael Hilton is being looked at in the death of 84-year-old Irene Bryant and her missing husband, 80-year-old John Bryant. The couple disappeared after going for a hike in western North Carolina.

SAVANNAH --- An Army sergeant stationed at Hunter Army Airfield has been ordered detained on an indictment charging him with child pornography.

Staff Sgt. Robert Higgins, 48, is charged by a federal grand jury with sexual exploitation of children and possession of child pornography.

U.S. Magistrate Judge G.R. Smith ordered Staff Sgt. Higgins held pending a pretrial detention hearing.

ATLANTA --- Gov. Sonny Perdue announced Monday the availability of $115,000 in funding to communities interested in implementing or expanding volunteer programming in their cities and towns.

Hands On Georgia and The Georgia Department of Community Affairs jointly distribute the grants to local governments that partner with community agencies with plans to engage volunteers in service.

The grant requires each recipient to match the grant award with locally raised funds, dollar for dollar, bringing the total leveraged amount of statewide community funding to $400,000.

-- Edited from wire reports