A young child from Michigan shot their baby brother in the face while playing with dad’s gun at their home.
The shocking incident took place at Tennessee Street in Detroit where a 6-year-old child was playing with their younger sibling on Wednesday night when they accidentally pulled the trigger on their father’s unsecured firearm.
According to the reports, the older sibling fired two shots from the gun. One bullet struck the baby boy’s face while the other penetrated his shoulder.
Assistant Chief Charles Fitzgerald of the Detroit Police Department has since also confirmed that the children’s mother was visiting relatives at the time of the incident. The father was in the backyard with the children’s uncle.
“Here we are again. Once again another senseless, preventable, horrible incident for this young kid. It’s a baby – one year old,” Fitzgerald said.
“The baby was in his bouncy, the preliminary information is that another family member, a young child, got a hold of a gun and shot his sibling, not once but twice.
“The one-year-old was shot through the cheek and through his left shoulder. We’re very very fortunate that that child is still with us.”
Luckily, the baby boy survived the ordeal and is now in a stable condition.
“We’re here far too often talking about securing the weapons. There are gun locks. There are gun safes. The highest shelf you can find in your house — put the gun up as high as you possibly can,” Fitzgerald continued in an attempt to convince gun owners to secure their weapons properly and keep them safely hidden from their children.
While the community was left shaken by the recent shooting involving young children, a local named Syreeta Wilson suggested people were not surprised by the news.
“It’s happening too much. We losing too many people over this. These weapons,” she said in an interview with WXYZ Detroit.
“Get a lock, a safe deposit box. Lock it up in a closet so they can’t reach it. We need to really stop this. We’re adults, they’re children. They’re innocent.”
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