Three-Year-Old Florida Boy Fatally Shot Himself with Gun left in Nightstand

According to People, on Wednesday, Feb. 15., a three-year-old boy fatally shot himself using a handgun he found in his parent’s nightstand drawer. His older sister, 16, was babysitting her three and eight-year-old brothers while their parents went grocery shopping. 

Deputies were called to the DeLand home around 6:30 p.m. ABC News reports the 16-year-old called 911 screaming, “My little brother shot himself!” Sherriff Mike Chitwood called the young girl’s 911 call “heartbreaking.” 

According to a press conference held Thursday by the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office, the 3-year-old got into the end table of the parent’s bedroom, picked up the gun, and shot himself at “point-blank range.” CPR was administered by the first deputy on the scene, but the young boy was pronounced dead at a nearby hospital at 7:03 p.m. 

People reports no charges have been filed. According to Florida law, when a child is accidentally shot, no arrest will be made prior to seven days after the date of the shooting. Sheriff Chitwood pleaded with gun owners to keep their guns in their safes at the press conference on Feb. 16. He stated, "If you have little ones, even if you have teenagers, you gotta lock them up."