A teenage boy was seriously injured early today when he and two friends were handling a loaded handgun and it went off inside a South End home, Tacoma police reported.

The boy, described as either 14 or 15, was airlifted to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle for treatment after being shot in the face.

“He’s going to survive but it’s going to be life altering,” Tacoma police spokesman Mark Fulghum said.

The shooting occurred about 12:15 a.m. in the 5600 block of South Park Avenue. Two teenage boys had gone to the home of another teenage friend and brought two guns with them, Fulghum said. The boys were in the basement while other family members were upstairs.

The boys were handling at least one of the guns and might not have realized it was loaded, Fulghum said. The gun went off, striking one of the boys in the face.

The other two boys took off, Fulghum said. Officers found the two a short time later in the area.

Detectives responded to the scene. They were still trying to sort through what happened. As part of their investigation, detectives will be researching where the teens got the guns, Fulghum said. It appears the guns were seized by officers.