4-Year-Old California Boy Accidentally Shoots Her 2-Year-Old Cousin, Killing Her
Tragedy struck a California home when a four-year-old boy accidentally shot and killed his two-year-old cousin, killing her, according to ABC7.
Officers of San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department were notified of an accidental shooting on Duffy street early in the morning on Friday, and despite first responders trying their best to resuscitate the 2-year-old girl, she succumbed to a gun wound on her chest an hour after the shooting, said spokeswoman Cindy Bachman.
The grandfather of the girl, 53-year-old Cesar Lopez, was taken into custody later on Friday for reportedly leaving the gun in a spot where the boy could get to it. He is being held on suspicion of child endangerment and for being a felon in possession of a firearm, the department told reporters.
Neighbors who witnessed the early morning chaos in what is a usually quaint neighborhood said that the shot girl had a tiny wound on her chest when she was brought out by the paramedics.
“When they brought her out, she had a little patch right here over her chest. It didn’t look like a big hole. They were pumping it as they put her in the ambulance,” said neighbor Bubba McBath.
A 2-year-old girl was accidentally shot and killed by her 4-year-old cousin after he got a hold of a gun in their home. https://t.co/MxXIYX0J8L
— BuzzFeed News (@BuzzFeedNews) July 20, 2018
Fox News reported that the two children stayed in the same house with their mothers. The girl’s mother could be seen distraught at the scene of the incident, neighbors said, while the 4-year-old boy who had killed his cousin accidentally could also be seen visibly shocked.
“That was her only daughter. She was a good mom,” neighbor Citlaoy Plascencia told NBC.
But SB County Sheriff’s Department officers said that it was reckless of the grandfather to leave the gun at a place where it was accessible to such a young child, saying a tragedy like this once again highlighted the significance of gun safety.
“This is negligence here,” neighbor Dantra Lewis told the San Bernardino Sun. ”
I know these people are hurting, but a 4-year-old shouldn’t know where a gun is kept, let alone have access to it.”
As reported by BuzzFeed, gun violence is one of the leading reasons for children’s deaths in America. A recent study showed that nearly 1,300 American children are killed by guns and nearly 6,000 children are treated for gunshot wounds each year.
Just this month, the Inquisitr reported about a 2-year-old Fresno boy fatally shooting himself with a gun, despite two adults being in the house at the time of the incident.
