5-year-old shoots self with firearm laying around house
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Police say a 5-year-old boy shot himself in the leg with a firearm found laying around the house.
It happened just after 11:30 a.m. Wednesday on the 3100 block of North Patton Street in North Philadelphia.
Police said the boy is in stable condition at an area hospital.
"He's expected to be OK. We're thankful for that. Our officers immediately scooped him, got him to the hospital," Philadelphia Police First Deputy Commissioner John Stanford said.
Police say the gun was hidden in a bedroom, but wasn't secured, when the young boy found it. Police believe the gun belonged to the child's mother.
Police don't know at this time if the mother has a license to carry.
"It's just making sure that folks understand they need to have weapons not just hidden away, but secure in terms of gun locks, in a safe, somewhere where a child cannot access it and actually fire the weapon," Stanford said.
Two adults and four children were in the house at the time of the incident, police say.
The parents are being questioned by investigators, according to police.
"It's madness," Mel Lucas, of the Philadelphia Anti-Violence/Anti-Narcotics Network, said.
Lucas and others in the Philadelphia Anti-Violence/Anti-Narcotics Network went out in the neighborhood handing out flyers.
"It's just a shame, I mean, people have guns to try to protect themselves but gotta protect the children that's in the household as well," Lucas said.
It's unclear if charges will be filed. Police say it's too early to tell.
The investigation remains ongoing.
