A 17-year-old Northwest Baltimore youth was in critical condition last night after being shot in the head by a friend playing with a gun, the police said.

Jerrod Sanders of the 3600 block of Belle Avenue had been visiting at a friend's house in the 900 block of McDonogh Street, East Baltimore, about 5:30 p.m. As a third friend played with a handgun, it accidentally discharged.

The Sanders youth, struck by a bullet in the head, was taken to Johns Hopkins Hospital.