A three-year-old US boy accidentally shot himself dead at his own birthday party after finding a pistol which had fallen out of a relative's pocket.
In a statement, the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office says they were called to the scene in Porter, Texas at about 4:15pm to complete a welfare check.
At the scene, they found a three-year-old boy with a gunshot wound to the chest.
The boy was rushed to the nearest fire station and died there, in what the sheriff's department has called a "tragic accident."
Family and friends were gathered at the site of the incident to celebrate the boy's birthday and while playing cards heard the gunshot.
An investigation found the boy had picked up the pistol he used to accidentally shoot himself after it fell out of a relative's pocket.
There has been no further information surrounding how the gun ended up unattended or whether the gun owner was acting responsibly.
The Montgomery Sheriff's Office says their "thoughts and prayers go out to the family and friends involved."
The death follows another incident earlier this month where a three-year-old in Oregon found a gun in a set of draws and accidentally shot himself in the head.
The Gun Violence Archive has reported 1792 unintentional gunshot deaths in the US so far for 2020, alongside 236 gunshot deaths of children.
