Three-year-old finds his father's gun and shoots himself

DeLand (USA) - A three-year-old from DeLand in the US state of Florida has shot himself. The child had previously found a gun stored in a bedside table in his parents' bedroom.

The terrible accident happened on Wednesday evening. According to Volusia County police , the emergency call was received at around 6.30 pm. It was "one of the worst calls imaginable," said Sheriff Mike Chitwood.

Officers had immediately made their way to the scene. A police officer tried to save the boy's life, but his injuries were "too severe". He was pronounced dead at 7:03 p.m. at a nearby hospital, NBC reports.

In a press conference Thursday, Chitwood explained that the little boy's parents were at a nearby supermarket shopping for groceries at the time of the crime. Meanwhile, their 16-year-old daughter was babysitting her younger brothers, ages seven and three.

"For some reason that I don't know, and I don't know if we'll ever know the reason, the three-year-old went into the bedroom, then ran to the side table and took the gun out," Chitwood said. "He then turned it towards him and shot himself at point blank range."

He added that it only took a small amount of pressure to pull the trigger.

The weapon was a Canik 9mm, a handgun. According to Chitwood, a second firearm was found on top of the refrigerator: a Glock pistol.

The sheriff also pointed out that although there was a safe in the bedroom, it was "inoperable". This was confirmed by the dead toddler's father, a Florida state corrections officer.

He said that his firearms were normally stored in this safe, but the electronic locking function was not in working order. Investigators are still looking into how long the safe has been inoperable.

Firearm safe storage violations are a second-degree misdemeanor in the U.S. , Chitwood said.

With respect to the parent or guardian of a deceased minor, investigators are required by law to submit all evidence to the district attorney's office. The latter then decides whether a violation has occurred and appropriate further action is taken.

"I can't imagine that anything in the law books could penalize this family more than what (...) happened," Chitwood said. He added: "Here's a message to all parents who own guns, and that message is: if you have children, even if you have teenagers, you need to lock up the guns."