A toddler accessed a gun and shot their infant sibling dead in a horrifying scene on Tuesday afternoon.
The 16-month-old boy was fatally wounded by his five-year-old sibling at a northwestern Indiana apartment, according to police.
The older child accessed a handgun inside their home at Romney Meadows apartments in Lafayette, Indiana, under unknown circumstances and reportedly killed the baby, identified as Isiah Johnson.
Lafayette police Lt. Matt Gard said someone outside of the apartment called 911 after the shooting, and reported that a child was not breathing, at about 3pm local time (8pm BST).
"Detectives with the Lafayette Police Department determined that the child was shot by his five-year-old sibling, who was able to gain access to a weapon in the apartment," the Lafayette Police Department said in a statement.
One adult and two children were in the apartment at the time of the shooting, Lt. Gard told the Journal & Courier.
An autopsy was performed on Wednesday and the preliminary cause of death is one gunshot wound, Tippecanoe County Coroner Carrie Costello said.
According to investigators, the five-year-old was able to get access to the gun used in the shooting inside the apartment.
No arrests have been made so far in relation to the baby's death, while an investigation into the incident is ongoing.
When the investigation is completed, officials said the case will be sent to the Tippecanoe County Prosecutor’s Office for review to determine if charges might be filed.
Lafayette is located about 60 miles (96 kilometres) north of Indianapolis.
The tragic incident comes as the public discourse around gun control is tense, and while the country mourns the death of several children in school shootings, the latest being at a private Catholic school in Nashville, Tennessee.
On the same day as the Nashville shooting, a federal judge approved a legal settlement lowering the minimum age to carry handguns without a permit in Tennessee from 21 to 18. That came just two years after a new law set the age at 21.
Today, lawmakers in North Carolina ruled that residents can now buy a handgun without getting a permit from a local sheriff.
Democratic lawmakers warned it allows a greater number of dangerous people to obtain weapons through private sales, which do not require a background check, and limits law enforcement’s ability to prevent them from committing violent crimes.
