Tragic Toddler Fatality: 3-Year-Old Accidentally Shoots 2-Year-Old Brother with Gun Found in Mom's Purse, Deemed 'Very Reckless' by Police

 In a tragic incident, an Indiana mother is under investigation after her 2-year-old child was found dead in a hospital room. According to authorities, the mother reported that her 3-year-old son discovered a gun in her purse, leading to the accidental and fatal shooting of his toddler brother. 

The Gary Police Department, headed by Commander Samuel Roberts, is currently examining the case as a child shooting involving an unsecured firearm. As of now, no charges have been filed.

The incident unfolded when a call was received from Northlake Methodist Hospital around 7:30 p.m. on Friday. The Lake County Prosecutor’s Homicide Task Force is actively investigating the case, and Commander Roberts states that findings will be submitted to prosecutors upon the conclusion of the ongoing inquiry. 

The identities of the mother and her minor children are being withheld.

During the police interview at the Gary hospital, the mother claimed that her 3-year-old son stumbled upon the gun in her purse while she briefly left him in a bedroom. After gathering information from the mother, law enforcement secured the home located on the 2100 block of Georgia Street in Gary.

Gun storage safety is a critical concern, as highlighted by a survey from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, revealing that over half of U.S. gun owners do not securely store their firearms. 

This aspect, often a contributing factor in accidental child shootings, lacks extensive quantification, with the 2018 survey being the first nationally representative sample in 15 years.

The Indiana State Police have shared firearm safety information, emphasizing the importance of keeping guns "unloaded" and securely stored "separate from the ammunition." The Gary Police Department, through a Facebook post and subsequent press release, underscores the significance of gun owners using gun boxes or locks for securing their firearms.

Commander Roberts points out the recklessness of carrying a gun in a purse without a holster, stating that anything in the purse could potentially trigger the firearm. 

He suggests that guns can be safely carried in a purse if it has a built-in holster.

This unfortunate incident adds to the alarming statistics of accidental shootings, with the Gun Violence Archive reporting 1,399 incidents so far this year. The incident in Gary is part of an unsettling trend, with additional cases reported in Savannah, N.Y., San Antonio, TX, and Chicago, Ill.

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