A 7-year-old boy has died after being shot in the head in South St. Louis, Missouri.
Officers responded to a report of shots being fired at around 2:30 p.m. on Saturday, March 31, KMOV reported.
After arriving at the home located on the 3100 block of California Ave, officers found the boy suffering from a gunshot wound.
Firefighters told FOX 2 that the boy was barely conscious when they arrived and was hardly breathing.
He was sent to a local hospital in critical condition where he later died on the same day just after 10 p.m., according to KMOV.
The boy, identified as Jermon Perry, was playing with his two brothers on the second floor of their home when one of them grabbed a gun from another room, FOX2 reported. The parents were downstairs at the time.
Family believes St. Louis boy was looking for candy when he found a gun – and killed his brother, 7 https://t.co/IfGHHAAjnk pic.twitter.com/AG7xt8WXXM
— St. Louis Post-Dispatch (@stltoday) April 1, 2018
The three children continued playing and somehow the gun accidentally went off.
According to the St. Louis Post Dispatch, the family believes that Jermon’s younger brother accidentally shot him while he was looking for candy.
The gun is owned by Jermon’s father, Jericho Perry, who did have a license to carry.
“This is heartbreaking, this is heartbreaking I can’t imagine how this mother feels you know, his sisters or his brothers,” neighbor Louis Spears told KMOV.
The gun was in a holster in a dresser drawer, according to the St. Louis Post Dispatch.
“He never thought the kids would get to the gun,” Erica Jones, the mother’s god-sister told the newspaper, “They were in a upstairs bedroom and their mother was in the kitchen cooking.”
“She normally hides candy from them so they don’t go in there and eat it all,” Jones added.
Police are not pursuing any criminal charges at this point in time, according to KMOV.
The other two boys still don’t understand that Jermon has died, Jones told the newspaper.
Detectives are continuing to investigating the incident.
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