According to authorities, a 10-year-old boy fatally shot his 12-year-old brother when the two were playing with a gun they found inside a St. Louis residence.
According to KMOV-TV, the incident occurred Tuesday night in a north St. Louis area. According to police, the boys were in the home with a parent who was receiving a haircut when the older kid was shot in the face.
The tragedy comes after a string of shootings in St. Louis involving children with guns. On Friday, 2 young cousins who were streaming live from a St. Louis home were killed when one kid fatally shot the other before killing herself in an accident, according to family relatives.
A 12-year-old girl was injured in an unintentional self-inflicted shooting in February.
Maj. Ryan Cousins of the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department advised homeowners to utilize gun locks.
“As an agency, we will come out and teach everyone how to use them,” Cousins said. “We do understand people are going to own guns; however, to protect these children, we want to ensure these guns are secured safely.”
According to Everytown for Gun Safety, a prominent gun control advocacy organization, 142 people were killed and 242 were injured in unintentional shootings by minors under the age of 18 in the United States in 2020.
