A 10-year-old boy was playing with a shotgun when it discharged, killing his younger brother, authorities in Houston, Texas, said on Monday.
Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez said at a press conference that they responded to an “awful incident” inside a Houston apartment complex, where they found an 8-year-old boy who had been shot in the upper torso. His older brother had been playing with a shotgun in the apartment’s only bedroom when it discharged just after 3 p.m. on Monday, the sheriff’s office said in a statement.
The 8-year-old was pronounced dead at the scene.
The siblings’ 13-year-old brother was also in the apartment at the time of the shooting but was not injured, Gonzalez said. The three brothers were alone at the time of the incident.
The sheriff did not rule out possible charges, but said the investigation into the incident is ongoing.
He stressed the importance of responsible gun ownership.
“We’ve talked in the past about the importance of safe storage, of securing weapons, responsible gun ownership,” Gonzalez said. “This appears to be a tragic situation of what could happen when that doesn’t occur.”
It is not clear who owned the shotgun.
The sheriff also offered his condolences to the family.
“We know they’re extremely devastated by what was occurred out here this afternoon,” he said during the press conference.
The incident is part of a growing trend of tragic shootings in the U.S involving children.
According to data analyzed by advocacy group Everytown for Gun Safety, there have been at least 232 unintentional shootings by children in the U.S., resulting in 102 deaths and 142 injuries, in 2022.
