A three-year-old girl has fatally shot her four-year-old sister with an unsecured firearm, in an incident officials called "preventable".
The shooting in Texas on Sunday was determined to be "unintentional" after the unnamed three-year-old got hold of a loaded semi-automatic pistol.
As per CNN, the siblings were left unattended and the family came rushing into the room after they heard a gunshot where they tragically found the four-year-old unresponsive.
The group of five adults and two children were in a Houston apartment, with each of the children's parents believing that the other was supervising them.
Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez has stated that incidents like this "likely" end up with somebody facing charges for not securing their weapon.
"It just seems like another tragic story of another child gaining access to a firearm and hurting someone else," Gonzalez said while calling the incident "tragic" and "preventable."
"This basically involves a three-year-old and a four-year-old," the sheriff went on. "The three-year-old is the alleged shooter. It appears to be unintentional."
Per NBC, Gonzalez continued: "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."
According to data compiled by Everytown Research & Policy, there were at least 2,070 unintentional shootings by children under 18 years old between 2015 and 2020, resulting in 765 deaths and 1,366 injuries.
Sadly, children obtaining unsecured firearms aren't uncommon in the US, as shown recently after a six-year-old allegedly shot his school teacher.
As reported by CNN, the shooting took place on Friday, January 6 at Richneck Elementary School in Newport News, Virginia, when 25-year-old teacher Abigail Zwerner was shot in the abdomen.
Police Chief Steve Drew updated the press at the time, deeming that the shooting was "not accidental" and that "we have been in contact with our commonwealth attorney and some other entities to help us best get services to this young man."
Despite the shooting being determined to be intentional, reports revealed that the six-year-old was not to be charged.
Newport News, Virginia, Commonwealth’s Attorney Howard Gwynn told CCN affiliate WTKR: "After researching this issue thoroughly, we do not believe the law supports charging and convicting a six-year-old with aggravated assault."
Zwerner reportedly instructed others school children to flee the classroom when she realized that the child had a weapon, and a shot was discharged as she attempted to confiscate it.
The 25-year-old was taken to the hospital in critical but stable condition and she was released a week later.
It is claimed that some members of staff were aware that the six-year-old had brought a weapon into school and failed to act accordingly.
The boy's family told the district that he "suffers from an acute disability and was under a care plan at the school that included his mother or father attending school with him and accompanying him to class every day," but this was the first week that they had opted not to attend school with their son.
Per Education Week, there have been 145 school shootings in the US leading to injuries or fatalities since 2018.
