ST. LOUIS-(MiraviPost) — A 10-year-old boy has fatally shot his 12-year-old brother while playing with a gun they found inside their St. Louis home.
The St. Louis Metropolitan Police confirmed the news of the tragedy in a statement on Wednesday, March 30.
According to Maj. Ryan Cousins of St. Louis Metropolitan Police, the boys were with a parent who was getting a haircut in the home when the older boy was shot in the face on Tuesday night.
This comes after two young cousins who were live streaming from a St. Louis apartment died when one fatally shot the other before killing herself last Friday.
Recently, there has been a spate of shootings in St. Louis involving children handling guns.
In February, a 12-year-old girl was wounded in an accidental self-inflicted shooting, AP reported.
In 2020, gun control advocacy group report indicated that unintentional shootings by children under 18 years old in the United States left 142 people dead and 242 wounded.
In 2021, the number of deaths climbed to 154 and the number wounded rose slightly to 244 and this year so far, 20 people have been killed and more than 30 have been wounded in such shootings.