Gun Accidents Involving Young Children; Three-Year-Old is Killed

In Columbia, Maryland, a three-year-old was killed with an unsecured handgun in what police say was an accidental shooting. The child was at home with their parents and five-year-old brother. It has not been determined who pulled the trigger, as police continue to investigate.

A three-year-old shot a 33-year-old woman in the back with a loaded handgun that 41-year-old Brian Siegfried left on the front porch of an Easton, Pennsylvania home. The woman is expected to survive. Witnesses say that Siegfried allegedly cocked a gun he was handling, and then left it on the porch and walked away. The three-year-old was one of four children under the age of five who were near the gun. Siegfried was charged with reckless endangerment.

Also a four-year-old was shot by a sibling when the two children found an unsecured gun in a home in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The four-year-old is in critical condition at the hospital. Police are still trying determine the circumstances of the shooting and how the children got the gun.

Sources:

Hyperlinks above are to source material.