A 3-year-old Detroit boy is in critical condition after picking up his mom’s loaded, unsecured handgun from a dresser where she left it and shooting himself in the face.

Detroit Police James White said the wound was “descried to me as a graze wound, but I don’t want to commit to that, because the child is in critical condition,” WJBK reported.

“It could be critical because of age, but that’s a very serious classification of injury,” White said. “We’ll just have to wait and see and keep the kid in our prayers.”

Police said they were called to the scene just before 4:30 p.m.

“The mother arrived home from work, walked into the home (which had) eight other people in it, five children and three adults,” White said. “She walks in from work, she places her gun on the dresser. Minutes after she does so, the 3-year-old gets possession of the weapon and apparently shoots himself in the face.”

White said the mother has a storage lock box for guns in the house but had not put the weapon into it.

“It shouldn’t have happened, it didn’t have to happen,” he said. “If you’re going to have a gun, have responsibility and lock it up.”

White said that there would be charges filed but not until the investigation is complete, WDIV reported.

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[Featured image: Pixabay]