Child fatally shoots self as mother, friend smoke weed in front seat, Louisiana sheriff says

 

The 4-year-old was in the back seat with two young siblings when, investigators believe, he found the weapon.

Investigators believe a 4-year-old boy fatally shot himself after he found a gun in the back seat of a vehicle while his mother and a friend smoked marijuana in the front, a Louisiana sheriff said.

The child died of a gunshot wound to the head in Saturday night’s incident in Westwego, across the Mississippi River from New Orleans, officials said Monday.

“These types of deaths can certainly be prevented,” Jefferson Parish Sheriff Joseph Lopinto said at a news conference.

The child’s 1-year-old and 22-month-old siblings were also in the vehicle, officials said. No other injuries were reported.

Investigators initially thought the child had been shot from behind or that a sibling may have shot him, but an autopsy confirmed that he was shot from the front, Lopinto said.

The gun, which belongs to the child’s father, who was not there at the time of the shooting, was left under a seat. The mother and her friend did not know the weapon was there, the sheriff said.

No arrests have been made, and evidence will be sent to the district attorney’s office for consideration, he said.

The mother and her friend admitted they were using marijuana at the time, but no pot was recovered from the vehicle. They have been cooperative, Lopinto said.

Read more at https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/child-fatally-shoots-self-mother-friend-smoked-weed-front-seat-louisia-rcna14492

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