A 4-year-old Gary boy shot and injured himself late Tuesday afternoon after getting a hold of a parent’s unsecured gun.
Gary Police were sent at around 5:26 p.m. Sept.r 12 to Methodist Hospital’s Northlake campus for the incident, which occurred in an apartment in the 1900 block of Burr Street, Gary Police Spokesman Cmdr. Sam Roberts said in an email Wednesday. The boy’s father, 25, said the boy found the unsecured gun inside a purse while he was watching TV in a bedroom and the child’s mother was taking a shower, Roberts said.
Once he heard the gun fire, the boy’s mother rushed him to the hospital, Roberts said. There’s no word on his condition.
The shooting is the second time in two weeks a child 5 and under has gotten ahold of an unsecured firearm. Edan Oliver Johnson, 5, of Chicago, died of a single gunshot wound, the office August 30, the Post-Tribune previously reported.
Roberts said in an email September 1 that the child was visiting relatives in the 2400 block of Filmore Street. A 32-year-old man who police detained at the scene told them he’d returned with the homeowners’ permission to the house early Wednesday to check on the boy and a 17-year-old girl, also from Chicago.
When he came in, he said he took his handgun off his person before falling asleep, Roberts said.
Around 8 a.m., the man said he was awakened by a loud noise and found the boy shot, Roberts said. The witness told police he then drove the boy to the hospital, where he died of his injuries.
No charges have been filed against the man as of Friday, and police are still investigating, Roberts said Wednesday.
Anyone with information about Tuesday’s incident is asked to call the Violent Crimes Unit at (219) 881-1210.
Michelle L. Quinn is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
