Three-year-old shoots dead one-year-old sister
A three-year-old child who got hold of a gun accidentally shot and killed their one-year-old sibling.
Cops responded to a report of a shooting around 7.30am on Monday on the 1100 block of South Stage Coach Lane in Fallbrook, which is about 50 miles north of San Diego, California.
The three-year-old ‘got ahold of an unsecured handgun’, deputies told CBS 8.
First responders found a one-year-old girl with at least one gunshot wound. She was rushed to Palomar Hospital, where she was pronounced dead one hour later, stated the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department.
Identities of the older children and family have not been released.
‘The family’s one-year-old, whose name is not being released at this point out of respect for the family and the fact she is a juvenile, had a head injury,’ stated sheriff’s Lt Joseph Jarjura.
Homicide detectives are gathering more information on what led up to the shooting.
The district attorney’s office was contacted, but did not immediately announce any charges.
California law requires that firearms in residences be stored in locked containers or be disabled.
To date this year, there have been more than 200 accidental shootings by kids in the US, according to the nonprofit advocacy group Everytown for Gun Safety. Seven of them have taken place in California.
The incident in Fallbrook occurred about a month after a two-year-old boy who got ahold of a gun shot his pregnant mother in the back at their home in Norwalk, Ohio. Laura Ilg, who was 33 weeks pregnant, called 911 and screamed for help. Ilg underwent an emergency C-section at a hospital but her unborn son was pronounced dead, and she was too shortly after.
‘The gun was left out, but it shouldn’t have been accessible to the child,’ said Norwalk Police Chief David Smith. ‘Apparently she didn’t know he was in the room at the time.’
Another tragedy involving a child happened the same day as the Fallbrook shooting. On Monday afternoon, a three-year-old driving a golf cart struck a seven-year-old standing in the front yard of a home in Fort Myers, stated the Florida Highway Patrol. The older child was rushed to a hospital and pronounced dead. The three-year-old child was not injured.
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
For more stories like this, check our news page.