A child in Utah was rushed to the hospital in critical condition after suffering a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Police responded to a call reporting a possible gunshot to an infant’s head inside a vehicle at approximately 7:40 p.m. local time on Monday at a Lehi Maverik gas station, according to FOX 13.
The outlet quoted a police spokesperson as having said that nearby officers were able to respond quickly to the situation. Reports have not specified the age or gender of the child.
Police said the parent was inside the store when the gun was discharged, and they are investigating how the child got hold of the weapon, FOX 13 reported.
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Newsweek has contacted the Lehi City Police Department for further information outside of standard working hours.
Another local outlet, KSL, quoted a bystander in the store – Doug Shields – who reportedly helped and spoke with the child’s mother.
“She goes, ‘He shot himself. He shot himself. He shot himself. … He found the gun under my seat and pulled the trigger.’ It was apparently an accident. A total accident,” Shields said.
A 9:30 p.m. update from ABC4 reported that the child had been transported to Primary Children’s Hospital in Salt Lake City.
Monday’s incident comes two weeks after a man in Virginia was flown to the hospital after being shot by his girlfriend’s two-year-old son.
The man had been getting ready to leave the house but was shot after the infant discharged a handgun he had set down on a chair. Local news station WTVR reported that no one else was injured in the incident.
A 2023 study found that approximately 90 percent of accidental shooting deaths in children under 15 involve unsecured firearms. In 80 percent of cases, the gun belonged to an older relative.
Last November, a four-year-old girl was critically injured after her sibling accidently shot her in the head with an illegally owned gun that was not properly secured in Miami-Dade, Florida.
“A firearm should be stored in a secured lock box, safe, or in a place that is not accessible to small children or any person who should not have access to a firearm,” Detective Andre Martin said in a statement to the press at the time.
“We urge each and every member in our community — whether you own a firearm or not — to discuss safe firearm management, ownership with your children. Guns are not toys.”
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