A toddler in Arlington, Texas fatally shot himself with a gun he may have found in his teenage brother’s room, leading local police to beg citizens to keep their handguns locked up.
Rio Carrington would have turned three-years-old in less than two weeks, according to CBS Texas.
But on Tuesday morning, Arlington police said they received a 911 call from a neighbor who heard a gun go off on Pocassett Drive at about 12:30 a.m.
Carrington’s mother also called, and told dispatchers that her son was bleeding, CBS said.
When cops and paramedics arrived, they found the little boy with a gunshot wound to his face.
“Life-saving measures were performed,” said Arlington police Sgt. Courtney White, according to Fox 4 News Dallas-Fort Worth. “The child was transported to a local hospital where he was unfortunately pronounced deceased.”
Authorities have not said what type or caliber of weapon the boy found, or if the gun was bought legally, Fox said. They also did not release the name or age of the brother, who police said is a minor.
Carrington’s death might not have happened if the gun was stored in a safe or had a lock on it, Arlington police said.
“Please lock your handguns up,” Sgt. White said. “They can get into the wrong hands, or they can get into a child’s hands. And something this serious and unfortunate can happen to them. And now this mom is going to have to bury her young child.”
Heartbroken friends and family posted tributes on Facebook this week.
A GoFundMe has been set up to help cover the family’s funeral expenses.
The shooting happened less than a week after a two-year-old girl shot herself in the chest in Fort Worth, CBS said. The girl’s mother told police her daughter may have found the gun in an unlocked drawer.
Carrington was at least the sixth child to die of a gunshot wound in Tarrant County this year, according to CBS.
The Cook Children’s Medical Center in Fort Worth treated 225 juvenile patients for gunshot wounds from 2018 to 2022, the network said. Twenty-two children also died.
