A 5-year-old boy has tragically and accidentally shot dead his 8-year-old brother in the US.
After an emergency services call on Thursday afternoon (local time), police officers went to a house in Arkansas' Jefferson County to find a child "unresponsive" inside. The coroner was called to the home and the child was declared dead.
The boy's mother along with four other children was inside the house when the shot was fired, killing the 8-year-old, US media outlet KARK4 News reported.
Local police said the shooting was being treated as a tragic accident but one that could've been avoided.
"I can't emphasise strongly enough that guns need to be well secured and kept out of the hands and away from children at all times," Jefferson County Sheriff Lafayette Woods said in a press release.
"Gun owners that do not properly secure their firearms are just one split second away from one of these tragedies happening in their home."
Investigators and prosecutors are now trying to determine whether negligence was involved and if charges would be laid, Woods said.
"The mother said the weapons were secure but we're vetting that information now," Woods added, as reported by Arkansas Online.
Local authorities said the children will be placed in the custody of their aunty pending a protocol check.
According to statistics from the Brady Campaign, a non-profit group that advocates for gun control, 321 people are shot in the US every day - with 111 of those killed. Among those, 22 children and teens are shot.
Gun violence and mass shootings have been running rampant in the US in 2022. Mass shootings are sitting at more than 300 already, according to the Gun Violence Archive.
Mass shootings, where four or more people - not including the shooter - are injured or killed, have averaged more than one per day so far this year. Not a single week in 2022 has passed without at least four mass shootings.
