PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A 10-year-old boy died of a gunshot wound after he and other children apparently found the weapon in a north Philadelphia home, authorities said.
Emergency responders were called to the home in the Nicetown-Tioga area just before 6 p.m. and found the boy with an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head, police said. He was taken to St. Christopher’s Hospital where he was pronounced dead less than 45 minutes later, police said.
“Supposedly there was a gun inside a cabinet that the children found and at some point, it was discharged into his own head,” Capt. Lee Strollo said. “We’re looking into how the gun got on location and who the owner of the gun is,” Strollo said.
The boy’s 8-year-old sister ran to a neighbor’s home to call for help after the shooting, police said.
The city’s police commissioner, Danielle Outlaw, said in a statement that “another one of our precious children has died as the result of gunfire.”
“As a community, we must all strive to do better in keeping guns out of the hands of our kids,” she said.
