Police believe a toddler may have fatally shot himself after finding and accidentally firing a family member’s gun in a Texas apartment, authorities said.
According to KCEN and KWKT, the incident occurred shortly after 6 p.m. Wednesday at a home in the University Club Apartments in Waco. Waco police arrived to find a 2-year-old boy who had been shot in the head and rushed him to a nearby hospital, where he was later pronounced dead, the news outlets reported.
Police said the gun’s owner, a 21-year-old, fled the apartment with the weapon but eventually came back, authorities said. The suspect is facing an evidence tampering charge, according to the news outlets.
Investigators believe the victim discovered the gun “in a backpack belonging to an adult family member” and accidentally shot himself, police said in a news release.
The names of the suspect and victim were not immediately available.