A 3-year-old in Milwaukee died after he accidentally shot himself on Friday morning, police said.
The Milwaukee Police Department said that a 28-year-old woman has been arrested in connection with the incident, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported. The woman's relationship to the boy has not been disclosed.
The boy was taken to a hospital, where he died, at about 5 a.m., WMTV reported.
Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson posted about the incident on Twitter on Friday morning.
"I am disturbed by all gun deaths in Milwaukee, but when the victim is a 3-yr-old, I am horrified. There are too many guns in the hands of people who should not have them. All weapons must be locked and secured in a home," the mayor said.
I am disturbed by all gun deaths in Milwaukee, but when the victim is a 3-yr-old, I am horrified. There are too many guns in the hands of people who should not have them. All weapons must be locked and secured in a home.
— Mayor Cavalier Johnson (@MayorOfMKE) July 1, 2022
Newsweek reached out to the Milwaukee Police Department for comment.
According to the Gun Violence Archive, 836 children and teenagers have been killed, and 2,100 children and teenagers injured, as a result of gun violence in 2022.
In in April in Fort Collins, Colorado, a mother was charged after her son accidentally shot and killed himself. Police said they responded to a home and found the boy, Roy Summers, with a gunshot wound and took him to a hospital where he later died.
In a news release, police said the mother "left the unsecured weapon laying in an area frequently accessed by her children. Several hours later, Roy picked up the gun and accidentally shot himself."
In a shooting in Akron, Ohio, in March, a 10-year-old boy was fatally shot after another child accidentally fired a gun. According to police, three other children and an adult residents of the house were seen leaving before officers arrived.
"Our assumption is he stumbled upon the weapon, obviously unsecured, and then the unspeakable happened," Akron Police Lieutenant Michael Miller told news station WJW. "It would appear, based on what we have gathered thus far, that this was a very unintentional, tragic incident."
Miller said police believed the weapon belonged to a resident of the home who wasn't there when the child was shot.
In April, a father was charged after an 8-year-old accidentally shot and killed his brother in Georgia. News station WXIA reported that the children were in a bedroom when the 8-year-old found his father's weapon and fired it. The boys' father and uncle were allegedly downstairs watching TV when the incident occurred.
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