NJ.com is reporting about a shooting incident that took place in Newark, which has left a 9-year-old girl critically injured. The incident allegedly happened when the girl’s 12-year-old brother accidentally fired the handgun while he was playing. The girl was shot in the chest and remains in critical condition.
According to Sgt. Ronald Glover from the local Police Department, they received a call from the home situated on the 200 block of Renner Avenue at around 12:18 p.m. local time. Emergency responders reached the site to find the girl with a gunshot wound to her chest. According to a neighbor, the incident happened at around 12:15 p.m local time. The neighbor, identified as 31-year-old Chris Hanson, revealed that he heard a loud noise at quarter past 12, and within minutes saw police cars and EMS vehicles arriving near the home where the shooting took place. Later, he saw police officers enter the home and come back with the injured child who was wrapped in a blanket
“She was just wrapped up,” Hanson said.
According to the NJ report, the brother was playing with an unsecured, loaded 9mm handgun before the incident happened. It is unclear as to how the girl was actually shot. The mother of the children was in the house when the shooting took place. However, she was in the bathroom at the time, and was not able to prevent the boy from getting hold of the handgun, which allegedly belonged to her boyfriend.
Police officers added that the 9-year-old girl was transported to University Hospital, where her condition remains stable — but critical. Officers have managed to recover the weapon used in the shooting. Investigation is ongoing to ascertain the circumstances which led to the shooting of the young girl. At this stage, it is unclear if the parents of the children would be charged for negligence. The investigation is still in its early stages.
Meanwhile, several anti-gun activists reached the site of the shooting, according to a PIX 11 report.
This is not the first time that an incident of this nature has happened in the United States. Who do you think is to take the blame in cases like these?
[Image Via PIX 11 ]
