6 year old Maryland boy shoots himself with gun found in backpack

SEE AN UPDATE ON THIS CASE HERE.

It's sad and tragic to post stories like this one so often on this blog. A 6 year old Clinton, Maryland boy shot himself with a gun he found in the backpack of someone who lived in the home:

A 6-year-old boy accidentally shot and killed himself in a quiet neighborhood of single-family homes in the Clinton area Monday afternoon, and Prince George’s County homicide detectives are considering filing charges against a 20-year-old who lived with the boy and apparently brought the gun to the house, authorities said.

Detectives and uniformed police officers descended on the 6000 block of Arbutus Lane about 2:40 p.m., cordoning off a long row of blue- and white-sided houses with yellow crime tape. Assistant Prince George’s Police Chief Kevin Davis said they were exploring the tragic death of a 6-year-old boy, who shot himself in the chest with a loaded revolver that he found inside the home where he lived with his great-grandmother. (...) “This was an irresponsible act that caused this very, very unnecessary death,” Davis said. “This did not need to happen.”

(...) “It’s really sad,” Meadows said. “A child that young, life just beginning and ending, you might say, in a matter of days.”

It did not need to happen. A gun in the hands of a child or teen must first pass through the hands of an adult.