Boy, 8, accidentally shoots himself in head while playing with gun in Bronx apartment

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An 8-year-old boy accidentally shot himself in the head and was critically wounded in a horrifying accident while he played with his dad’s gun inside a Bronx apartment Monday, police said. The little boy found the unlicensed gun in an unlocked safe in a closet at the home on Fordham Hill Oval near Sedgwick Ave. in University Heights just before 12:30 p.m., police sources said.

Police believe the boy accidentally shot himself while playing with the 9-mm handgun.

Medics rushed him to New York-Presbyterian/Columbia University Medical Center with a wound to his head. Cops confirmed the child was out of surgery and expected to survive, but said the next 24 hours will be critical in determining the damage done in the frightening incident.

City Councilmember Fernando Cabrera — who lives in Fordham Hill, the complex where the incident happened, and represents the district — said he heard the little boys’s condition was improving. “The good news is that the bullet didn’t penetrate the skull,” Cabrera said. “So the child is going to make it.”

Neighbor Eric King, 49, who made the 911 call said “They never leave the kids home alone.”
The injured child’s mother was in the building but not in the apartment when the shooting occurred, police said. King said the father arrived soon after an ambulance was called.

https://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/nyc-crime/ny-bronx-boy-shot-gun-20210118-j2sf2viphjb4jg6p6l6kqvgkky-story.html