PEORIA, Ariz., May 3 (UPI) -- A 2-year-old Arizona boy is in critical but stable condition after shooting himself in the head with a pistol that was left on a bed, police say.
The incident occurred Thursday night in Peoria, Ariz. Detectives say the boy was playing with his grandmother on a bed when he found a loaded handgun that was underneath a pillow or tangled in sheets, according to reports. The gun accidentally discharged, striking his cheek and exiting his head.
"A portion of his skull was removed to alleviate the swelling," Sgt. Shari Howard wrote in an email to media outlets. "Doctors believe it will be another week before they can give an updated prognosis."
The boy's grandmother said she was unaware of the gun until it went off, according to police. The boy's aunt was also home at the time, but his father, to whom investigators believe the gun belonged, was as work. He reportedly rushed to Phoenix Children's Hospital upon hearing of the incident.
"You've got to keep this gun with a gun lock and a gun safe and keep it out of the hands of children," Jay Davies of the Peoria Police Department told KPHO. "Unfortunately these are the types of things that happen when these precautions are not in place."
The incident joins a series of others over the past months involving toddlers shooting themselves with unsecured, loaded firearms.
On April 18 a 5-year-old shot a 9-year-old girl in the torso with a loaded shotgun that had been left unattended on a bench by the girl's father, who fished nearby, police say.
A week earlier, a 1-year-old boy was killed after being shot in the head by a 3-year-old boy who found a loaded gun in a Cleveland home, according to authorities.
In January, a 5-year-old Missouri boy shot his baby brother in the head while playing with a loaded revolver that had been left on a shelf in the headboard of their parents' bed, police say.
In such instances, police often pursue charges against the gun's owner. Authorities say Thursday's incident in Peoria is still under investigation and that no charges are pending at this time.
A 2013 report published by the Journal of Pediatrics concluded that in 2009, an estimated 20 children and adolescents were injured by firearms every day in the United States.
