A 2-year-old in Michigan died in an accidental shooting over the weekend after having gotten hold of an unsecured firearm, police said.
Authorities responded to a home in the 1900 block of Oak Squire Lane in the Rolling Oaks neighborhood in Howell just before 6 p.m. Sunday, Howell police said in a news release. Howell is about 40 miles southeast of Lansing.
The child was pronounced dead at a local hospital.
Police said that the child had “gained access to an unsecured firearm” but that it's not clear where the firearm was.
No further details were released. It's not clear whether the child was supervised. Police didn’t share the child’s gender.
The investigation is ongoing.
Hundreds of children gain access to firearms and unintentionally shoot themselves or other people every year, according to Everytown for Gun Safety, a nonprofit gun control group.
This year alone, there have been 136 unintentional shootings by children across the U.S., resulting in 55 deaths and 84 injuries, according to an Everytown tracker.
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed legislation in April requiring that firearms be stored unloaded and locked with locking devices or stored in locked boxes if it's reasonable to believe children will be present.
Just last week in Detroit, a 6-year-old boy found a gun and shot his 1-year-old sibling twice. The younger child, who was shot in a cheek and a shoulder, survived. At the time, the children’s mother was down the street at a relative’s house, and their father was in the backyard with other children.