ST. LOUIS — A 4-year-old girl died of a gunshot wound at a home in St. Louis after the mother went to the store, leaving four children alone, police said.
Officers were called to the home of a child late Monday night and found the injured child unconscious and barely breathing. The 4-year-old was rushed in a police SUV to a hospital, where she died.
Four children — a 10-year-old, 9-year-old, the victim and her 4-year-old twin — were in the home with no adults present, police spokesman Mitch McCoy said during a news conference Tuesday. The child was accidentally shot by a sibling, McCoy said. Police have not released the age of the child who fired the gun.
“It’s early in our investigation, but it appears the mother left the children alone in the home while she went to the store,” McCoy said. The gun, he said, was apparently left in a location “easily accessible to a small child.”
No charges have been filed and McCoy said the investigation is continuing.
McCoy said the department and the entire St. Louis is heartbroken by “this terrible and avoidable tragedy.”
Across St. Louis metro area, 15 children 17 or younger died by gunfire in 2024, according to St. Louis Post-Dispatch information. The girl killed Monday was the youngest of this year’s victims, said Tara Rick, executive director of operations for St. Louis Medical Examiner’s Office, to the newspaper.
McCoy urged all gun owners to lock up their guns — especially if a child is in the home.
“If you’re going to own a firearm, take responsibility for it,” he said.
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This story has been corrected to show that the victim was a girl, not a boy.