DETROIT – A 4-year-old boy has been shot by his 9-year-old brother inside a home on Detroit’s west side.
The shooting occurred Thursday (Oct. 12) afternoon near I-96 and Tireman Street.
Officials say multiple children ages 11, nine, and four were left unattended in the home.
Police say a 17-year-old sister may have been around the home or in the area but the 9-year-old knew that his older brother had a gun and he wanted to go see it.
“The boys found the gun up in their older brother’s bedroom and started playing with the gun before shooting the 4-year-old right through his cheek and into his left shoulder,” said Detroit police Assistant Chief Charles Fitzgerald. “Thankfully, he’s been listed in temporary serious condition. You can heal from these kinds of scars, but you got the mental wounds as well that, not only the older brother, who is just a child himself, pulling the trigger and shooting his brother and then the wounds that the brothers are going to have. Gun locks. Gun locks.”
The shooting has been the second child shot with an unsecured weapon in the city of Detroit in the last nine days.
On Oct. 3, you had an 8-year-old who was shot.
Police told Local 4 that the 4-year-old boy is expected to pull through as he was alert and talking with they arrived.
Police are investigating the scene as they’re trying to figure out where the gun came from because it was not registered to anyone living inside the home.
During the investigation, police arrested two teenagers with warrants unrelated to the shooting.