BRADY TWP — An 18-year-old man is suspected of hitting a young boy in the arm with a pellet gun Saturday afternoon, while the child was at a birthday party in the back yard of a home on Muddy Creek Drive, state police said.

Three 17-year-old boys are also facing charges in juvenile court in connection with the incident.

The 5-year-old victim, from Prospect, authorities said, was taken by private vehicle to Butler Memorial Hospital for treatment of injuries not considered serious.

Criminal charges of reckless endangerment and simple assault are pending against Christopher B. Carr of Slippery Rock.

Carr and the other three teens are all also facing summary charges of sale and use of air rifles, and improper use of a pellet gun.

Police said the 5-year-old was in the back yard with a group of other children at the home about 4:30 p.m. when “out of nowhere” he was hit in the lower arm with a pellet.

Trooper Christopher Balcik said that while investigating the shooting he heard pellet gunfire in the area. He tracked the noise to a home on nearby Route 8.

The trooper, a criminal investigator, went to that home and found the three 17-year-olds, who police did not identify. One of those boys lives there. Balcik also seized three pellet guns there.

Carr was not there but police later found him. They believe he fired the pellet gun that struck the boy. The shot traveled across Route 8.

The teenagers told police that they were targeting shooting on the home's property at the time. Police said all four teens are cooperating in the investigation.