Toddler and Six-year-old Injured After Finding Loaded Guns

In Rocky Mount, North Carolina, a two-year-old boy was seriously injured after getting ahold of a gun that belonged to his 17-year-old uncle. The boy shot himself in the stomach, and is in critical condition at the hospital. One of the two guns that the uncle possessed was stolen, but police didn’t say whether the stolen gun was the one used. The uncle is facing juvenile petitions for possession of handgun by a minor, possession of a stolen firearm, and failure to store a firearm to protect minors. There is a continuing investigation into the case with more charges possible.

And a six-year-old in Madison, Wisconsin, shot himself in the eye with a 9mm gun left accessible by 34-year-old Zeyheari Powell, his mother’s boyfriend. Powell was looking after the boy and his two siblings, ages two- and four-years-old. After the shooting, Powell said he moved the gun and holster to the top of a back bedroom closet, because the two-year-old was walking around the house. Powell was charged with neglecting a child. At the hospital, the boy’s condition is stable but, as one experienced nurse observed, his prognosis “did not look good.”

Sources:

“2-year-old Boy Shot Himself With Uncle’s Gun in Rocky Mount, Police Say,” wral.com (May 28, 2025).

Chad Thompson, “Madison Man Charged in Connection to 6-year-old Shooting Himself in the Head,” wkow.com (May 28, 2025).