DETROIT – Detroit police are investigating how an unsecured gun went off and hit an 11-year-old child early Friday morning on Detroit’s west side.
“According to mom, it was a room with two or three children in it and jumping on the bed and supposedly the gun went off at that time,” said Commander Kimberly Blackwell of the 10th Precinct of the Detroit Police Department.
It is unclear if the boy was shot or if he received another injury related to the gun going off. It is also unclear where the rifle was located in the room for it to go off, but Blackwell emphasized that “this is something that was absolutely preventable, 100% preventable.”
The 11-year-old boy was released from the hospital, but police are still investigating the incident.
During the taping of this weekend’s edition of Flashpoint, Detroit Police Chief James White said incidents like this are happening more often.
“Already this year we’ve had 19 kids that have either been shot, or found their way to an illegal weapon, or a weapon that was unsecured in their home,” he said.
The emergency department at Children’s Hospital of Michigan in Detroit has been treating these children.
“It is really concerning because we want kids to be able to live their lives without the fear or even chance for them to be able to get shot,” said Dr. Kelly Levasseaur, the Medical Director of the Pediatric Emergency Department.
For many of their patients’ families, safe gun storage doesn’t become a priority until it’s too late.
“Parents say or the caregivers say, ‘I didn’t think it would happen. I didn’t think it would happen to us.’ But unfortunately, sometimes there’s only one chance,” Dr. Levasseaur said.
The 10th Precinct, where the 11-year-old was hurt, will hold a child abuse prevention event next weekend where they will be passing out gun locks. Local police departments, including the Detroit Police Department, have them and will give them out for free, no questions asked.
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