Child dies after child finds loose gun in car and pulls trigger

SAN ANTONIO – A child has died after another child allegedly grabbed a gun in the back seat of a car and shot the child.

Three children, ages 3, 2 and 10 or 11 months, were in the car with the woman when one of the older children grabbed a gun that was in the back seat of the car, San Antonio Police Chief William McManus said. car and accidentally shot the baby.

McManus calls what happened in a parked car outside Merton Minter Veterans Hospital today a terrible tragedy.

“We had three small children, ages three, two, ten or eleven months, sitting in the back seat of the vehicle,” Chief McManus said.

Carmelo Vega, range director for Lone Star Handgun, says when it comes to gun safety, this is one of the worst scenarios he’s ever heard of.

“You have to take all necessary measures to ensure that no one, including young children, adults or anyone who should not have access to these firearms, actually gets access to the firearms,” Vega said.

Who owned the gun and how it was stored is still unknown, but Vega says there are ways to secure the gun in a vehicle, such as trigger locks. They prevent the trigger from being pulled.

“It should be properly locked in a hard case and obviously away from children,” Vega said.

We’ve reached out to the San Antonio Police Department to see if the woman in the car will be charged, but they haven’t heard back yet. When we find out, we’ll let you know.