A 9-year-old Detroit boy shot his 4-year-old brother Thursday with an older brother’s loaded, unsecured handgun.
Detroit police said the 9-year-old took the gun from his 17-year-old brother’s room to play with, WJBK reported, and shot the younger boy in the cheek. The bullet then struck his shoulder.
The 9-year-old told police that his older “brother showed him the gun before,” according to WXYZ.
Police said no adults or other guardians were in the house at the time of the shooting, but the boys’ 11-year-old sister was at home.
Investigators also said the gun is registered to someone who is on probation and should not have a weapon.
“Four-year-old — we’re talking about a baby,” Assistant Police Chief Charles Fitzgerald said. “You can heal from these kind of scars, but you got the mental wounds as well that not only the older brother — when I say older, he’s just a child, he’s a little boy himself, pulling the trigger shooting his brother — and then the wounds that the brother is going to have.”
Police arrested two teenagers on outstanding, unrelated warrants and are investigating their role in the shooting, WDIV said.
The young boy is hospitalized in serious condition, police said.
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[Featured image: WDIV screenshot]