Toddler shoots himself, 7-year-old brother with gun left in backpack, Mo. police say
A 2-year-old shot himself in the arm and grazed his 7-year-old brother’s head with the same bullet as he played with the gun he found inside a backpack in his parents’ bedroom Monday night in Pagedale, Missouri, police say.
The boys’ parents were away at the time of the shooting, when the brothers and two other siblings were left in the care of their 16-year-old brother, Pagedale police wrote in a statement on Facebook. Police responded to the shooting call at the two-story home in the 6700 block of Schofield Avenue at about 9:30 p.m..
The boys were taken to an area hospital and are expected to make a full recovery, police say.
“They’re not lucky,” Pagedale interim Police Chief Eddie Simmons told KTVI. “They were blessed.”
The 2-year-old found the 9mm handgun loose in a backpack in his mom and dad’s bedroom, not secured with, a trigger lock that could have prevented the shooting, according to KSDK. He took the backpack into his bedroom, the station reported, and started playing with the gun.
The toddler might have been hunting for a snack when he found the gun in the backpack instead, KTVI reported. None of the children at the home at the time of the shooting have been identified by authorities.
His brother was in the room at the time of the shooting, which police are calling accidental. The toddler shot himself in the elbow, and the bullet traveled through his arm longways, exiting through his hand, before grazing the top of his 7-year-old brother’s head and fracturing his skull, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
No charges have been filed in the shooting. While KTVI reported that police did not expect to file any charges, KSDK reported that it was “not clear whether the parents would face any charges.”
“Pagedale Police Department encourages all gun owners to properly secure your weapons,” the department wrote on Facebook in response to the shooting. “Especially if you have small children in the house. We provide FREE gun locks to anyone!”
So do many other law enforcement entities across the country. Pagedale is an east St. Louis suburb.
