MEMPHIS, Tennessee — A 4-year-old boy is dead after shooting himself with his father’s unsecured gun in Memphis.
The incident took place at the 4300 block of Egyptian Cove.
Shelby County Sheriff’s officials say the child found his father’s gun and accidentally shot himself.
The child’s father was outside cutting the lawn when the shooting happened.
No charges have been filed yet.
No further details were available. This is a developing story.
USA TODAY: Two children die almost every week in unintentional shootings — far more than government statistics show — according to a new study by Everytown for Gun Safety.
Medical examiners sometimes categorize shooting deaths of children as homicides or suicides before investigations or court proceedings are complete, and that puts more young lives at risk, says the gun-control group’s president, John Feinblatt.
“If you don’t have the right numbers, then you don’t understand the scope of the problem and how to prevent it,” Feinblatt says. “If fewer gun owners left their guns loaded and unlocked, fewer children would be killed.”
His group examined every publicly reported case of a child gun death from Dec. 15, 2012, through Dec. 14, 2013.
The study found 100 unintentional deaths in 35 states across the country — 61% higher than the average number of unintentional gun deaths reported annually by theCenters for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) from 2007 through 2011.
Photo: @JMilesWMC-Twitter
