A 9-month-old baby boy died Monday after he was shot in the head by his 5-year-old brother in their grandfather’s Missouri home, police said.
The 5-year-old found his grandfather’s .22-caliber revolver in the bedroom and was playing with it when he ended up shooting his younger brother, said Nodaway County Sheriff Darren White. The baby was in a playpen in the same room and the bullet struck him in the head.
“He was apparently fascinated by the gun, as most young kids would be,” White said.
The 9-month-old was flown to Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City, where he later died.
The children’s mother, Alexis Wiederholt, told deputies that she heard a pop when she was in the kitchen. When she went to the living room, she said she saw three of her four children there, including the 5-year-old, and said one of the children was holding a paintball gun.
Wiederholt called the police just before 9 a.m., asking for an ambulance for her 9-month-old son, who she thought had been shot with the paintball gun. When first responders arrived, they quickly determined the boy had been shot with a real gun, White said.
The mother and her children were staying at their grandfather’s home in Elmo, Mo., according to White. Firearms are common in the rural area, he said.
“Firearms are great, it’s when people start leaving them loaded and unattended that things like this happen,” White said.
Police are investigating the incident, but it appears that the shooting was accidental, according to a sheriff’s press release.
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