Teen Killed Handling Gun With Friend, and Five-year-old Shot Himself With Babysitter’s Glock

A 14-year-old was shot and killed in his Atwater, California home. He and a 14-year-old friend were handling a gun in a room alone, when it discharged. He was pronounced dead at the scene. 

It is unclear how the teens got a hold of the gun, and investigators are trying to determine what led up to the shooting. Everyone involved is cooperating with the investigation. The school district plans to provide mental health support at all school locations in the aftermath of the tragedy. “It’ll affect all of his classmates, your close friends you see in the summertime but everyone else you go away from during the summer thinking you’ll see in the fall and when something like this happens, you go back to school that empty space where they should be,” said the police chief.

And in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, a five-year-old boy found his babysitter’s .45-caliber Glock handgun and shot himself in the hand. The boy found the loaded gun that Haidyn Moten, age 21, admitted he had left on his bed unattended. While playing with the gun the boy sustained a non-life-threatening injured and was taken to the hospital. Moten was arrested and charged with cruelty to juveniles.

Sources:

Brisa Colón, “14-year-old Boy Fatally Shot While Friend Handled Gun at Atwater Home, Police Say,” abc30.com (August 4, 2026).

Olivia Tees, “5-year-old Shot Himself with Babysitter’s Gun, Police Say,” theadvocate.com (August 4, 2026).