Boy, playing with gun, kills brod, 4

Gun found in parents room

A four-year-old boy was fatally shot after the gun his brother was playing with accidentally went off.

The boy’s parents rushed him to the Bantayan District Hospital, but he didn’t reach the hospital alive. The four-year-old sustained  a gunshot wound in the mouth.

Investigation showed that the children together with their mother had just returned home in barangay Ticad, Bantayan Island from a birthday party  at 2:30 p.m.

The children then asked permission from their mother to play computer games inside their parents’ bedroom on the second floor of the house.

But minutes after they went upstairs, the mother heard gunfire inside the bedroom. When she went upstairs to investigate, she found her youngest son bleeding from the mouth.

Police said that the child was still alive when he was taken to the hospital.

A .45 caliber pistol was recovered from the crime scene.

The parents denied owning the firearm and they said they didn’t know where the firearm came from, said Senior Insp. Ildefonso Miranda, Bantayan Police chief.

But Miranda said that the firearm was placed above the cabinet and was taken by the children.

The seven-year-old boy was taken to the Department of Social Welfare and Development but was later returned to the custody of his parents.

Police said they were still deciding whether to file a negligence case against the parents. /Correspondent Joy Cherry Quito