A two-year-old boy from Illinois is in critical condition after shooting himself in the head Tuesday.
Police said that their preliminary investigation found the boy had identified an unsecured handgun in the bedroom of the home and shot himself with the firearm, according to ABC 7. They were called to the home around 12:15 p.m. and immediately began lifesaving measures on the child, the outlet noted.
He was first transported to St. Joseph Medical Center before being airlifted to Lurie Children’s Hospital in Chicago for additional treatment around 5 p.m., ABC 7 reported. Police are still investigating how and exactly where the child accessed the weapon, and his mother is cooperating fully with the investigation.
Joliet Police guard a home on S. Comstock Street where a toddler found a handgun & suffered a gunshot wound to the head. The child is in critical condition at an area hospital & the child’s mother is cooperating with the investigation. More at https://t.co/vhbRxCcLib pic.twitter.com/qvn7OUQ0ln
— Kris Habermehl (@KrisHabermehl) September 27, 2022
The child’s mother was in a bedroom with her son when the tragedy occurred, and had left the room to retrieve something when he accessed the firearm, ABC 7 noted. The local police department is now investigating who the gun belongs to and if criminal charges should be filed.
“Especially like this where there is a tragedy, there has to be some sort of accountability in a case like this, so that is something that is completely within the realm of this investigation,” Joliet Police Department’s Sgt. Dwayne English told the outlet. (RELATED: New Jersey Child Poisoned After Cleaning Uncle’s Fentanyl Lab, Prosecutors Say)
A similar tragedy occurred in Joliet in 2021, when a two-year-old died after finding an unsecured firearm in a television stand, WGNTV reported.