LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (KTHV) - Little Rock police are investigating the shooting death of a 5-year-old boy on the city's southwest side.
Officers responded to reports of shots fired at a home on Wycliffe Drive just before 8 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 22. Upon arrival, they found a 5-year-old boy who had been shot. He was pronounced dead on the scene.
Police said no adults were home at the time of the shooting, and the victim was home with his three siblings who range in age from 6 to 14.
"While he was alone, he ended up going in a room, getting a gun and was playing with it, and it accidentally discharged as he was playing with it," said Lt. Michael Ford, a spokesperson for the Little Rock Police Department.
Ford said the department is investigating this case as an accident.
"Through the course of the investigation detectives learned the gun and the magazine were kept in separate places, but there was still one bullet in the chamber," said Ford.
According to Ford, detectives have spoken with neighbors and the other children inside the home as part of the investigation. Currently, there is no one in custody.
"A case file will be put together and sent over to the prosecutor's office for them to make determination on if charges will be filed against the mother," Ford said.
In wake of this shooting, police are asking gun owners to make sure their firearms are secured away from children.
"If you're going to start bringing a gun or introducing a gun into your home with small kids, make sure you can get a gun safe or something like that you can lock it up in each day or each night while you're gone while it's not with you just to make sure the kids don't get to it," Ford said.
THV11 has chosen not to identify the victim out of respect for his family.