A 10-year-old boy accidentally killed his eight-year-old brother with a shotgun at an apartment complex west of Houston, Texas.
The shooting was reported shortly before 3pm on Monday. The sheriff said the 10-year-old was playing with the firearm when it fired and the blast struck the brother who was pronounced dead at the scene, according to KPRC.
Another sibling, a 13-year-old boy, was at home at the time and called 911.
Kendra Davis, a neighbour, told KPRC that “as a parent, no one should ever have to go through that”.
“It’s horrible that this is happening on a daily basis. Something needs to be done. It’s out of control,” she added.
The authorities think the three siblings were alone when the shooting occurred.
Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez said that they weren’t in school because they had recently moved to the area.
“These situations are preventable. Children should never have access to weapons. Anything could happen,” he said, adding that charges may be brought.
The authorities are working to ascertain who owns the shotgun.
“We’ve talked in the past about the importance of safe storage, securing weapons, responsible gun ownership,” Sheriff Gonzalez said. “This appears to be a tragic situation of what could happen when that doesn’t occur. Our condolences out to the family. They’re extremely devastated by what has occurred here this afternoon.”
The sheriff added that the shotgun was fired once and that it's thought that the child was struck in the upper torso.
He added that shootings involving children are not only traumatic for the families but “very dramatic for our personnel who are responding”.
“I always struggle to even say it's accidental because these are truly preventable,” Sheriff Gonzalez said. “I think it's something we continually get the message out on: the importance of safe storage, especially when there are kids around.
"In this case, we had three kids who were home alone and obviously had access to the shotgun, and so that’s concerning.”
According to the gun control advocacy group Everytown, there have been “at least 238 unintentional shootings by children, resulting in 106 deaths and 145 injuries nationally” this year.
Following standard procedure, the sheriff's office is working alongside Texas Child Protective Services to monitor the health of the surviving children.
