According to court documents, 19-year-old Joseph Jackson of Muncie, Indiana told police he “left a 9mm Glock 19 sitting on a dollhouse in a room that he shared with [his girlfriend], her 4-year-old son and 2-year-old daughter.”  The four-year old found the gun, which was apparently loaded, and accidentally shot himself.  The boy was taken to a hospital where he later died.  

Alycia Smith, Jackson’s girlfriend,  told police she knew Jackson had a gun and said he had left the gun sitting on the dollhouse “at least 10 times.” Court documents say investigators found a gun safe on the first floor of the home, where the gun could have been safely stored.

Both Jackson and Smith were arrested and charged with “felony neglect resulting in death.”

Source:

“4-year-old Boy Dead in Muncie Shooting; Mother, Boyfriend Charged,” wthr.com (November 14, 2022).