A 6-year-old boy was fatally shot in the head this week by a 9-year-old boy who got a hold of a gun inside a Florida home, authorities said.
The younger child was taken Monday to a hospital, where he died, Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office Assistant Chief J.D. Stronko said in a news conference.
An adult at home during the shooting has been questioned by authorities, Stanko said. There is no indication of criminal violence and no one has been charged with a crime, he said, adding the circumstances of the shooting were under investigation.
The incident adds to the growing tally of children up to age 17 killed this year in gun violence: 1,114 as of Wednesday, with another 3,065 injured, Gun Violence Archive data shows.
Children and teens are more likely to die by guns than any other way – a grim cause that surpassed car accidents in 2020. Firearms accounted for nearly 19% of deaths in 2021 of children ages 1 to 18, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention WONDER database.
Nearly 3,600 children died in gun-related incidents that year – about 5 children lost for every 100,000 children in the United States.
In no other comparable country are firearms within the top four causes of mortality among children, according to a KFF analysis.
In this week’s fatal shooting in Florida, it’s unclear what the relationship between the two boys and their relationship with the adult at the home are. Authorities will not release that information per Marsy’s Law, a state statute that gives crime victims certain protections and rights. At least 17 states have such laws.