‘Hero’ under investigation in friend’s shooting

Sunday, June 6, 1999 | 5:52 a.m.

Now, investigators think the shot was fired by a friend who was initially hailed as a hero for saving the teen-ager's life.

A sheriff's report on the case was submitted Friday to the Washoe County District Attorney's Office, which will decide whether to charge Jimmy Gross, 22, in the May 6 shooting.

Ferris continues to recover at Washoe Medical Center, but remains unable to speak and faces an uncertain long-term prognosis.

Gross initially told investigators that his 15-year-old friend went to the bathroom of his Red Rock house north of Reno and shot himself.

But after he awoke from a coma at the hospital, Ferris indicated with a thumbs down when detectives asked if he shot himself, family members said.

Sheriff's detective Larry Canfield said Gross then changed his story, saying he accidentally shot Ferris during a game of Russian roulette.

Thinking he killed him, Gross told investigators, he ran to another friend's house, leaving Ferris on the bathroom floor for about 30 minutes before returning to call paramedics.

"He said he was scared and went there to tell (the other friend) that Tommy was dead," Canfield told the Reno Gazette-Journal.

When Ferris watched a television news interview with Gross, he shook his head at Gross' story about Russian roulette, said Melissa Stoltz, Ferris' mother.

"He got really angry," said Stoltz, who works in the sheriff's records division.

"I know he wouldn't commit suicide. Every mom wants to say that, but I am closer to my son than anybody. He had too much going for him. He is almost a straight-A student."

Although it appears Gross bought alcohol the night of the shooting, blood tests found no alcohol in either of the youths, Canfield said.

"That makes it unusual," he said. "I've never seen a game of Russian roulette that didn't have drugs or alcohol involved."

Stoltz's new husband, who owns an auto-body shop, hired Gross two weeks before the shooting and fired him that day, she said.

"We had felt guilty, but we didn't know Tommy was hanging around with him," Stoltz said.

The handgun used in the shooting was registered to Ferris' father and kept in a locked cabinet, Canfield said.

Ferris' family initially credited Gross with calling paramedics in time to save him. Now, it questions his role in the shooting.

"We thought he was our hero ... You need to pay attention to who your kids are hanging around with," Stoltz said.