A man is facing charges after police say a four-year-old boy accidentally shot himself with an unsecured gun inside a North Carolina home.
Police said the boy was taken to hospital with life-threatening injuries and remained in critical, but stable condition.
Authorities have charged 52-year-old Patrick Daye with permitting a young child to use a dangerous firearm.
Daye was released on a US$1,000 bond and could face up to 60 days in jail if convicted of the Class 2 misdemeanor.
Neighbours told Raleigh, N.C.-based NBC affiliate WRAL News that they were heartbroken to learn a young child had been shot.
“It just breaks my heart,” said a resident who lives in the area. “Something like that, for a child, it breaks my heart.”
Another resident said similar incidents have happened before and they need to stop.
“This is sickening,” Robert Adams told WRAL News. “Our kids are dying at no fault of their own. Everybody just stands and looks, and they go on with their day after this happens, like it’s OK. But it’s not OK. We got to do something.”
According to the latest data released by the U.S. Federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), unintentional injury is the fourth-leading cause of death among infants (children under 12 months) and the top cause of death among those younger than 17 years of age.
Firearms are a leading injury method, the report says, adding that approximately half of unintentional firearm injury deaths among children and adolescents occurs at their home.
