An adult was present in the home at the time of the shooting, but authorities could not disclose the relationship between the adult and the children or the relationship between the two children under Florida’s victim privacy protections
Authorities reported Monday that a 6-year-old boy in Florida was fatally shot by another child under the age of 9.
The victim was taken to the hospital Wednesday afternoon but was ultimately pronounced dead, Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office Deputy Chief JD Stronko said.
The child was wounded in the head with a single gunshot wound, he noted.
An adult was present in the home at the time of the shooting, but authorities could not disclose the relationship between the adult and the children or the relationship between the two children under Florida’s victim privacy protections, Marsy’s Law, according to Stronko.
The investigation is ongoing, but authorities have found no indication of criminal violence, according to the sheriff’s office.
The incident is not the first involving a young child and a gun in recent months. In early August in Alaska, a boy shot and killed another minor with a rifle after minutes earlier they were playing with toy guns.
Officers responded to Mountain Village, a town that is home to about 600 people, after tribal and village police officers notified them about the death of a child.
Investigators said two boys had been playing inside with Nerf guns when one of them picked up a loaded rifle and pulled the trigger.
The child, who has not been publicly identified, was pronounced dead at the scene, authorities said according to CBS News.
An adult was in the residence at the time of the shooting, but no charges will be filed in connection with the incident, Dougherty said.
So far this year, there have been at least 229 unintentional shootings by children in the U.S. Those events have left a total of 81 dead and 156 injured, according to data analyzed by the advocacy group Everytown for Gun.
About 4.6 million children in the U.S. live in homes with at least one loaded, unlocked firearm, according to Giffords’ data.
Having a gun in a home is a major risk factor for death for a child in that home, said Dr. Eric Fleegler, a pediatric emergency physician and researcher at Boston Children’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School.
“A child who sees a gun, regardless of whether they recognize it as a toy versus a real gun, doesn’t think about the consequences, has no notion of harm, has no sense of the harm they might be causing. to themselves or someone else when they engage with it.” Fleegler said.
Gun violence remains one of the leading causes of death among Americans. As of 2023, more than 26,000 people have died from gunshot wounds, according to the Gun Violence Archive.