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Kansas Toddler Shot Dead by Brother, 4

Police say the children found a 9mm handgun in a nightstand
By Kate Seamons,  Newser Staff
Posted May 1, 2014 12:08 PM CDT
Kansas Toddler Shot Dead by Brother, 4
A 9mm bullet is shown; police say the child pulled the trigger of a 9mm handgun.   (Shutterstock)

Three siblings playing in a bedroom in Wichita, Kansas, on Tuesday afternoon came upon a loaded handgun in a nightstand. They didn't pick up the gun, but a toddler still ended up dead after his 4-year-old brother reached in and managed to pull its trigger, reports KAKE. The 19-month-old was standing near the nightstand and was hit in the chest by the bullet, which traveled through the piece of furniture; his father, who was home at the time and in an adjacent living room, took him to the hospital, where he died within the hour.

Per the Wichita Eagle, police say "it appears the 4-year-old did know where this firearm was. He had seen the firearm." The father may face charges. The 4-year-old and his 3-year-old half-sister were uninjured. (Last month, a 5-year-old shot a 7-year-old dead in South Carolina when he pulled the trigger of a gun that was in a car trunk.)

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