A 4-year-old Kansas boy reportedly squeezed the trigger of a handgun found in his father's nightstand, firing a single fatal bullet into his 19-month-old brother's chest.
The two brothers had been playing together in their parents' Wichita home Tuesday with their 3-year-old half-sister when their father, in a neighboring room, heard the gun go off, The Wichita Eagle reported.
"It was a terrible, terrible tragedy," Lt. Todd Ojile told the paper of the child's death less than an hour later at an area hospital.
"It appears the 4-year-old did know where this firearm was," he added. "He had seen the firearm." An emotional woman is seen reacting while speaking with police outside where the toddler was shot. An emotional woman is seen reacting while speaking with police outside where the toddler was shot.
Police said the boy didn't remove the 9-mm. handgun from the drawer but only squeezed its trigger. Because it had been left there while loaded, the bullet shot right through the drawer and into the toddler's path.
The boys' mother had been out shopping when the children's hysterical father, 33, called 911 on route to a hospital with his three children and his younger 22-year-old brother around 2 p.m. Because the father was so upset, the phone had to be given to his brother so dispatch could clearly understand where the shooting occurred, KAKE reported.
It's still not certain whether charges will be filed against anyone in what's being classified as an accidental death due to the 4-year-old's age.
Ojile said that there's no law on how and where gun owners must store their firearms, but said, "There is common sense."
"No one-year-old should have to die from a gunshot wound," he added.
The case is expected to be presented before the Sedgwick County District Attorney's Office for review later this week.
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