Tragedy As Three- Year- Old Toddler Shoots Four-Year-Old Sister Dead

A three-year-old girl in Houston, Texas, United States, has accidentally shot and killed her sister, 4, after finding a loaded semi-automatic pistol in their apartment while their parents had friends over and left them unattended.

The accidental shooting happened in the family’s home on Sunday, March 12, at 8pm local time.

According to Mail Online, Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez said the two girls were left unsupervised in a bedroom in the apartment as one parent thought the other was watching them.

There were also five adults – family members and friends – present in the apartment on Bammel North Houston Road, among which were the girls’ parents.

It is believed that the three-year-old found a loaded semi-automatic pistol and shot once, striking her four-year-old sister, the sheriff said.

The adults rushed into the bedroom after the single shot was fired to find the four-year-old unresponsive.

They secured the firearm and called the emergency services via 911. The toddler was pronounced dead at the scene.

Sheriff Gonzalez said, “It just seems like another tragic story of, again, a child gaining access to a firearm and hurting someone else and this time there was a fatal shot.”

Sheriff Gonzalez said, “It just seems like another tragic story of, again, a child gaining access to a firearm and hurting someone else and this time there was a fatal shot.”

Mail Online reports that advocacy group Everytown for Gun Safety analysed data on shootings so far in 2023 and found that there had been at least 58 unintentional shootings by children in the US, which resulted in 22 deaths and 37 injuries.

The group added that in 2022, there were at least 353 unintentional shootings by children, resulting in 156 deaths and 212 injuries.