An 8-year-old who found his father’s gun accidentally shot and killed a 1-year-old and wounded a 2-year-old at a Florida motel over the weekend, a sheriff said Monday.
Escambia County Sheriff Chip Simmons said the 8-year-old’s father left a gun in a holster in the closet. After the adult left, the boy found the weapon, which fired while he was playing with it, the sheriff said.
One round struck the 1-year-old girl, who died, he said. The bullet also struck a 2-year-old girl who is expected to recover, according to the sheriff.
The father was staying at the motel with a girlfriend, who was asleep at the time, Simmons said. The children killed and wounded were her children, he said.
The father was arrested on charges of being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm, tampering with evidence, culpable negligence and failure to safely store a firearm, the sheriff said.
There were at least 392 unintentional shootings by children younger than 18 last year, with 163 deaths, according to the advocacy group Everytown for Gun Safety, which tracks reports.
