5-Year-Old Boy Accidentally Fatally Shoots Himself

5-Year-Old Boy Accidentally Fatally Shoots Himself
Police are investigating a 5-year-old boy's death on Milwaukee's north side. (WTMJ via CNN)

MILWAUKEE, Wisconsin—(WTMJ)—Police are investigating a 5-year-old boy’s death on Milwaukee’s north side.

Just before 1:00 p.m. on Tuesday, June 18, officers were called to a home on 45th St.

A family member who did not want to go on camera says the 5-year-old found a gun in the couch and accidentally shot himself. He died before help could arrive.

Police Chaplain Malcolm Hunt says it was the boyfriend’s gun, and he had left it there.

“According to the mother, she was sleeping and all of a sudden she heard a pop. She called her son and he didn’t answer,” Hunt said.

“So she got up and went into the living room and seen him laying on the couch. She turned him over there was blood. He shot himself in the head.”

“We have lost too many children and babies,” said Hunt.

An autopsy will be conducted tomorrow.

Second Accidental Shooting in Just Two Days

This is the second accidental shooting of a 5-year-old in just two days in Milwaukee.

The first shooting happened in Kenosha on Monday, June 17.

The 5-year-old boy died of a gunshot wound after two men abandoned him at a hospital in southeast Wisconsin, according to police.

The shooting happened before 2 p.m. Monday, at a home in Kenosha, about 35 miles south of Milwaukee, authorities said.

Staff at the Froedtert South Hospital-Kenosha Campus called authorities after two men dropped off the wounded boy then left. Authorities have not described the relationship between the adults and the child who died.

Police said they have interviewed the men and recovered a firearm, but have not made any arrests.

Curtis Cannon told WISN-TV that the boy was his grandchild and that one of his two adult sons accidentally shot the boy. He said both sons drove the child to the hospital and left him there. Cannon said one son is the boy’s father, but he didn’t say which son shot the boy or describe the circumstances surrounding the shooting.

“Maybe they were scared to death. Maybe they took him to the hospital because they realized they (expletive) up, and they didn’t want the boy to be in pain or suffer. I don’t raise killers,” Cannon said.

Neighbors questioned how the young boy died.

“That’s a 5-year-old kid. Why would you leave a child?” said Karen Bialas, neighbor. “How the hell did this happen? Who did it? Who had a gun around a 5-year-old? Why would you have a gun around a 5-year-old?”

Police said the investigation was still “very active.”

The CNN Wire contributed to this article.

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