3-year-old girl kills 4-year-old sister in accidental shooting at Texas home
More than 44,000 firearm deaths were reported last year across the United States
Houston: A 3-year-old girl found a loaded gun in a Texas home and accidentally shot her sister, killing the 4-year-old on Sunday, police said.
Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez said the girls were in the bedroom of an apartment on Bammel North Houston Road in Houston, where they lived with their parents, around 8pm.
Five adults, who were all family members or family friends, were in other parts of the apartment and the girls unintentionally were left unsupervised, Gonzalez said.
“The 3-year-old gained access to a loaded, semi-automatic pistol. Family members heard a single gunshot. They ran into the room and found the small toddler, 4-years-old, unresponsive,” Gonzalez said.
The girl was pronounced dead at the scene after police responded to a 911 call by the family, Gonzalez told journalists outside the home.
“It just seems like another tragic story of, again, a child gaining access to a firearm and hurting someone else and this time there was a fatal shot,” Gonzalez said.
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The Harris County District Attorney's Office will decide whether any of the adults will face charges based on the police investigation, which is still in the preliminary phase, Gonzalez said.
“Our hearts are broken. Our deputies are pretty shaken up,” Gonzalez said, noting that support personnel would be at the scene to assist the officers and family members.
“The community is impacted when a child loses their life in this way,” Gonzalez said, adding that the shooting was another avoidable gun death.
“We continue to send the message that this is very preventable,” Gonzalez said. “You've got to be sure you're being a responsible gun owner, securing your weapons in a safe place. It's got to be more than just telling young kids not to touch the weapons. You know, we've got to do a little more. We see far too many tragic situations like this unfold.”
Firearm deaths increase
About 40 per cent of US households have guns, according to the Pew Research Center, with most of those also including children.
But less than half of the households with guns store them safely, according to Johns Hopkins University's School of Public Health.
More than 44,000 firearm deaths were reported last year across the United States.
Shootings were a leading cause of death among children under 18 last year, with nearly 1,700 cases, including 314 under 11 years old, according to the Gun Violence Archive.
Texas, with 30 million residents, is one of the easiest places in the country to acquire a gun and they can be carried in public without restriction.
"This is very preventable," Gonzalez said of the shooting Sunday.
"You've got to be sure you're being a responsible gun owner, securing your weapons in a safe place. It's got to be more than just telling young kids not to touch the weapons," he said.