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BBQ Pit Shaped Like Gun Fatally Crushes 4-Year-Old Texas Boy: Police

The "hysterical mother" had heard a "thud" outside, when she rushed out and found him pinned by the steel barbecue pit, authorities said.

A 4-year-old Texas boy was fatally crushed by a giant steel barbecue pit shaped like a revolver, authorities said.

A Liberty County sheriff's deputy was called to the home, east of Houston, on Tuesday afternoon and found the "hysterical mother" pointing out her injured son in the yard, the department said in a news release Thursday.

Deputy Ruben Arellano performed CPR on the child while waiting for an ambulance, but the boy — later identified as Bryan Jara — was pronounced dead at the hospital.

The distraught mother was not immediately named.

Investigators said the woman had been doing chores inside while her son played outside, as he often did.

"When she heard a 'thud' sound from outside, she ran out to find her son pinned under a very heavy steel bar-b-q pit which, from preliminary investigation, appears he was trying to climb on and the pit fell over on him," authorities said.

The boy's death appears to be a "tragic accident," they added. An autopsy has been requested.