The 6-year-old is the third Philadelphia child to die in a similar manner within the past three months.
A group of children were inside the home on Kendrick Street, near Torresdale Avenue, on Sunday, when police believe one got ahold of the gun and unintentionally shot the 6-year-old boy in the chest.
The homeowner drove the boy to the hospital, where he later died.
“The incident happens — 911 is not called, and we are getting uncooperative and untruthful information from uncooperative individuals,” said Anthony Voci, homicide supervisor for the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office. “Unfortunately, this case is falling into a similar pattern with the other two.”
Those other two cases: Four-year-old Kastari Nunez was fatally shot in the torso in April because her father’s gun wasn’t secured, and a 9-year-old Germantown boy accidentally shot himself in the face in May with an unlocked gun belonging to his mother’s boyfriend.
Parents in both cases were charged in their deaths. Voci said most of the adults involved didn’t cooperate either.
“So in addition to the criminal charges related to the incident itself, they were also charged for their conduct following the incident, which was to lie to police to cover up what they had done,” he said. “In the last two cases, we charged involuntary manslaughter as a felony, endangering the welfare of a child.”
If convicted, they could face 10 to 20 years in prison.
“It is a significant and substantial amount of prison time that you are exposing yourself to if you keep an unsecured, unlocked, loaded firearm in a home with children under the age of 18,” he added.
Temple University Hospital provides free gun locks to anyone who asks, available here.