2-year-old Acres Homes boy dies after shooting himself, police say
Official: Child grabbed unsecured weapon, pointed gun at head and pulled the trigger
A 2-year-old boy was shot to death in an apparent accident Sunday in Acres Homes, according to Houston police.
Police responded to a 911 call from the home in the 8400 block of Knox at 12:49 p.m., said HPD Capt. David Angelo.
The child, Christopher Williams Jr., was transported from the house to Texas Children’s Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
“It appears the 2-year-old was able to grab an unsecured weapon inside the house, point it at his head and shot himself, causing his death,” Angelo said.
Police said the boy’s mother and father, whom cousin Suzanne Alvarado identified as 34-year-old Christopher Charles Williams, were home at the time of the shooting.
Angelo said investigators from HPD’s special victims division would interview the parents to determine how the 2year-old had access to a gun. Police have yet to decide whether to file charges.
Officers recovered a 9 mm pistol from the scene, which Angelo said police believe belongs to the father.
More than a dozen neighbors and family members observed the scene Sunday afternoon from beyond a police cordon as rain fell intermittently.
Shamanda Williams, aunt of 2-year-old Christopher, sobbed as she scrolled through photos of the child on her phone.
“Christopher was an intelligent little guy,” she said.
She hoped to speak with her brother, whom police detained in an ambulance and later in the
back seat of a police cruiser.
“My brother, he is a good father,” Shamanda Williams said.
Angelo urged gun owners to store their firearms safely and out of children’s reach.
“You need to secure the weapons, whether it’s a trigger guard or safe ... so that nothing like that this can happen in the future,” the captain said. “This is a tragic, tragic incident.”
Sunday’s shooting is at least the third time this year a Houston-area boy has been involved in an accidental fatal shooting. In February, 6-year-old Justin Gooden shot himself in the Third Ward with his sister’s boyfriend’s pistol. Days earlier, 4-year-old Kadren Johnson shot himself with a gun he found at his grandmother’s home in Texas City.
Under Texas’ Child Protection Access law, a gun owner can be charged with a misdemeanor if a child under 17 years old gains access to a loaded gun that the owner failed to secure or left in a place where he or she should have known a child could access.
Christopher Charles Williams has a 2009 conviction for being a felon in possession of a handgun, Harris County court records show.