Eight-year-old boy fatally shoots himself with gun found in mother’s car while she was shopping, authorities say | US News

September 3, 2024 TruthUSA

An eight-year-old boy has tragically passed away after accidentally shooting himself with a loaded gun that was left in a car while his mother was shopping.

The incident occurred in Lehi, Utah, on Monday when the boy, who was alone in the car, found the loaded gun underneath a seat and accidentally shot himself in the head, according to the Lehi City Police Department.

Tragically, he succumbed to his injuries in the hospital on Tuesday morning. Law enforcement stated that the shooting was unintentional and self-inflicted, and that no charges were pending against the mother at the time, but the incident was still under investigation.

The incident took place outside a Maverik store on Thanksgiving Way, as reported by KSL-TV.

‘He shot himself’

An eyewitness, Doug Shields, mentioned that he heard a gunshot and a woman screaming while refueling his car. He rushed to the car and overheard the mother saying that the boy found the gun under the seat.

“She goes: ‘He shot himself, he shot himself, he shot himself,'” Mr. Shields recounted. “And I first thought suicide, and she goes: ‘He found the gun under my seat and pulled the trigger.’ It apparently was an accident. It was a total accident,” he added.

This unfortunate incident occurred less than two weeks after another tragedy where a five-year-old boy in Utah also died under similar circumstances at his family’s residence in Santaquin.

According to the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, Utah does not have any laws in place to prosecute individuals who fail to secure an unattended firearm. Additionally, the state does not have any laws mandating specific storage requirements for unattended firearms.

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