GARY (WBBM NEWSRADIO) - A 3-year-old boy fatally shot his 2-year-old brother by accident in Indiana after finding a gun inside his mother’s purse, according to local authorities.
Officers with the Gary Police Department were sent to a local hospital on Friday night after they were notified that a 2-year-old had suffered a gunshot wound.
The child’s mother spoke with officers, saying that her 3-year-old had found the firearm in her purse after she left it and her two sons in a bedroom.
The 2-year-old was quickly brought to the hospital after being shot, but he later died from his injury.
The Lake County Prosecutor’s Homicide Task Force has started investigating the shooting.
“We do criminal investigations, and then we present that to the Lake County prosecutor, who makes a decision whether it’s negligence or an unfortunate accident,” Gary Police Commander Sam Roberts told ABC-7.
Mayor Jerome A. Prince and Gary Police Chief Anthony Titus issued a joint statement on the shooting, pleading with adults to properly secure their firearms.
“Our hearts and prayers go out to the loved ones of the two-year-old child who was so tragically taken from our community,” Prince and Titus said in a joint statement.
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