03-14-2012, 07:31 PM
A 3-year-old boy shot and killed himself at a Washington gas station after finding a gun in his family's car.
The family had made an early-morning stop at a Shell station off Interstate 5 in Tacoma last Wednesday.
The man, who had placed the gun under a car seat, began to refuel the car.
As the boy's mother went inside the station, leaving her son and the man's 5-year-old daughter unattended, the boy apparently got out of his child seat, found the gun and shot himself.
He was rushed to a local hospital and declared dead.
The girl was not injured.
The parents, who have not been named, were questioned by police officials, but no charges have been filed.
The incident was the third recent shooting of a child in western Washington, according to AP.
'It is incredible in light of the other ones,' said Naveed Benjamin, a Tacoma police Officer. 'You would think people would take more care, not less.'
Just last Saturday, the 7-year-old daughter of a Marysville police officer died when she was shot by a sibling.
The family had made an early-morning stop at a Shell station off Interstate 5 in Tacoma last Wednesday.
The man, who had placed the gun under a car seat, began to refuel the car.
As the boy's mother went inside the station, leaving her son and the man's 5-year-old daughter unattended, the boy apparently got out of his child seat, found the gun and shot himself.
He was rushed to a local hospital and declared dead.
The girl was not injured.
The parents, who have not been named, were questioned by police officials, but no charges have been filed.
The incident was the third recent shooting of a child in western Washington, according to AP.
'It is incredible in light of the other ones,' said Naveed Benjamin, a Tacoma police Officer. 'You would think people would take more care, not less.'
Just last Saturday, the 7-year-old daughter of a Marysville police officer died when she was shot by a sibling.