An 8-year-old boy died after accidentally shooting himself with a gun left in a car while his mother was inside a convenience store in Lehi, Utah, according to police.
The incident happened around 7:40 p.m. on Monday. The boy was alone in the car, parked at a Maverick gas station, when he found the gun under a seat and accidentally shot himself in the head, confirmed Jeanteil Livingston from the Lehi City Police Department.
The boy was taken to a local hospital in critical condition and later airlifted to another hospital, where he died on Tuesday morning.
Police stated that the shooting appeared to be accidental and self-inflicted. It’s unclear whether the safety on the gun was engaged.
A witness, Doug Shields, was nearby when he heard the gunshot and the mother screaming. He went to the car and heard the mother say that the boy had found the gun under the seat.
This tragedy comes less than two weeks after a 5-year-old boy in Utah also accidentally shot himself and died at home in Santaquin, about 65 miles south of Salt Lake City.
Utah doesn’t have laws that penalize someone for not securing an unattended firearm or leaving it accessible to a minor. The state also doesn’t require firearms to be stored in a certain way or to have a locking device sold with them.
Currently, no charges are pending against the boy’s mother, and the investigation is ongoing. In contrast, police in Michigan recently charged the parents of a 9-year-old boy who shot himself due to violating the state’s safe storage law.
In St. Louis, a 4-year-old girl died on Monday after being shot while in a house with three other young children and no adults. Police are still investigating who was handling the gun at the time.