Local authorities reported Monday that a two-year-old toddler in Florida accidentally shot and killed his father after his parents left a loaded gun unattended.
The 26-year-old, who died shortly after in hospital, was first thought to have shot himself, but the eldest of the couple's three children later informed police that his two-year-old brother had pulled the trigger, according to Orange County Sheriff John Mina.
When police arrived at the victim's home in Orlando on May 26 after receiving a 911 call, they discovered the child's mother, Marie Ayala, performing CPR on her husband, Reggie Mabry.
According to court filings, the gun was in a bag that Mabry had left on the ground, and the youngster discovered it and shot his father in the back while he was playing a video game on a computer.
At the time of the occurrence, five family members, including a five-month-old girl, were in the same room.
According to the sheriff, both parents were on parole at the time for multiple counts of child negligence and drug use.
"Gun owners that do not properly secure their firearms are just one split second away from one of these tragedies happening in their homes," Mina said.
"Now these young children have effectively lost both of their parents. Their father is dead. Their mother is in jail, and a young child has to live their life knowing that he shot his father," the sheriff added.
In the United States, such accidents are not uncommon.
Another two-year-old child found a gun left in a Paw Patrol bag in August 2021 and tragically shot his mother in the head while she was participating in a video conference.
Following multiple tragic mass shootings in a supermarket, a hospital, and a primary school, the newest catastrophe comes as the country debates gun legislation.
According to the Gun Violence Archive, there have already been over 240 mass shootings in the United States this year. Thirty-three have occurred after a rampage at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, on May 24, which killed 19 children and two teachers. This past weekend, mass shootings in several places killed 11 people and injured more than 60.
So far this year, there has been more than one mass shooting every day, with four or more persons injured or killed (not including the shooter). There have been at least four mass shootings every week in 2022.
