According to authorities, a 3-year-old toddler died after shooting himself with a gun found in his parents’ bedside. The incident occurred at a residence near DeLand while the child’s eight-year-old brother and sixteen-year-old sister were watching him while their parents went out to get groceries.
At a news conference on Thursday, Volusia County Sheriff Michael Chitwood claimed the gun belonged to the child’s father, a state prisons officer. According to Chitwood, the gun had no trigger lock and was not kept in a safe. The child’s father told detectives that the safe’s electronic lock had been malfunctioning for some time.
The 3-year-old boy, according to Chitwood, took the loaded revolver from his parents’ nightstand in the master bedroom on Wednesday evening. After that, he shot himself in the head. His sister dialed 911 and reported that her brother was not breathing. His parents rushed home as deputies and paramedics arrived to transport the boy to the hospital, but he did not survive.
Chitwood said his office was investigating the case and would send its finding to the State Attorney’s office. “I cannot imagine there’s anything in the law books that can punish that family more than what happened last night,” Chitwood said.
“To all parents that own guns: If you have little ones, even teenagers, you got to lock them up, you have to lock them up because you just don’t know,” he advised.
According to the advocacy group Everytown for Gun Safety, there were more than 320 unintentional shootings by children across the country in 2022, resulting in the deaths of 145 individuals and 189 injuries. So far this year, there have been 20 unintentional gunshots by youngsters, with nine deaths and 12 injuries.