A 4-year-old Florida boy fatally shot himself in the head while playing with a handgun he found in his parents’ car as he waited for the rest of his family to go out for pizza, according to authorities.
Chosen Morris died a day after he accidentally pulled the trigger of the Smith & Wesson M&P .40 caliber gun belonging to his father that was left under the driver’s seat, Davenport police said during a press conference Monday.
While the family was getting ready to go out, the tot’s mother, Quinta, heard a “pop” she initially thought was due to her children breaking something, Police Chief Steve Parker said.
When the 32-year-old confronted her two older children in another room — an 11-year-old daughter and 7-year-old son — they told her the loud noise didn’t come from them. She then started searching for her youngest, and found him suffering from a gunshot wound in the front seat of the car in the garage.
The mother, a nursing student, provided aid to her child as the family rushed him to the hospital about two miles away.
He was pronounced dead Saturday afternoon, Parker said during the briefing streamed by Fox 13 Tampa.
The boy’s parents had said they were going to buy him a present after dinner, Parker said.
“We believe Chosen was excited about going out that evening and got into the car to wait for the rest of the family and in doing so found the firearm underneath the seat and while playing with it discharged and caused his fatal injuries,” Parker said, becoming visibly choked up.
“I can’t stress to you enough how tragic this is. I met with the family earlier today, they are devastated, they are devastated at what happened.”
The child’s father, Robert, told cops he uses the weapon for personal protection when he goes back and forth from work.
When he came home Thursday, he forgot about the gun and it remained in the car Friday because he didn’t have work that day, police said.
Parker said he does not want to seek criminal charges against the parents, but will need to deliberate with prosecutors.
“I can’t even imagine what they’re going through,” the police chief said of the family.
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