A 10-year-old boy who was playing with a shotgun fatally shot his younger brother in Houston on Monday, police said.
Per a report from regional outlet from KPRC, the shooting took place at an apartment in the area around 3 p.m. on Monday. In an initial statement, Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez said a child had been “playing with a shotgun” when it discharged and hit his sibling, killing him. Another sibling, later confirmed to be 13 years old, was also in the apartment at the time of the shooting. At a subsequent press conference, Gonzalez confirmed no adults were at the apartment when the shooting took place.
“They were in the apartment alone at the time,” Gonzalez told reporters. “They currently aren’t attending school. The preliminary information that we have at this point is that the 10-year-old was handling or perhaps playing with a shotgun when the shotgun discharged, striking his younger sibling of eight years old. And the younger sibling, the eight-year-old, has been pronounced deceased here at the scene.”
At multiple points in the presser, Gonzalez highlighted the importance of gun safety by pointing to this shooting as a “tragic” example of what can go wrong when necessary precautions aren’t taken. He also asserted that he struggles to say such incidents are “accidental” given how “truly preventable” they are.
Complex has reached out to the Harris County Sheriff’s Office for comment. This story may be updated.
The incident isn’t the first of its kind to have been reported out of Houston in recent days. Earlier this week, a 22-year-old man was charged with manslaughter after fatally shooting his 12-year-old nephew. According to the charged individual, his nephew was playing with a toy gun when he picked up his own firearm and joined in, incorrectly assuming the weapon was not loaded.
