CHICAGO, Jan. 17 (UPI) -- A 6-year-old Chicago boy thought to have accidentally shot himself with a gun belonging to his grandmother died a short time after the incident.
The boy, Jaylen Parker, died at the University of Chicago Hospital after shooting himself in a car belonging to his grandmother, a Cook County correctional officer, while she was retrieving the boy's younger brother from the Mighty God Christian Academy, the Chicago Sun-Times reported Wednesday.
A source close to the investigation said police believe the boy was pulling the gun from the car's glove compartment by the barrel when the trigger got "hung up" on another object and the weapon fired a shot at the boy's mouth area. The source said the gun is believed to have been "department-issued."
Chicago police spokesman Hector Alfaro said the shooting is being treated as accidental and a death investigation is under way.
