4-YEAR-OLD SHOOTS 6-YEAR-OLD IN THE HEAD

A 4-year-old child who brought a gun outside his home shot and seriously wounded a 6-year-old neighbor when the weapon somehow discharged as they played together, authorities said Tuesday.

The child got the .22caliber rifle from inside his home, and it discharged accidently around 6:40 p.m. Monday, Ocean County prosecutor Joseph Coronato said. The 6-year-old was about 15 yards away from the younger child at the time.

The younger child’s mother then called 911 to report the shooting, Coronato said.

The wounded child was shot in the head and hospitalized in serious condition.

Coronato declined to provide specific details on the shooting, citing the ongoing investigation, and said it was “too early” to know whether anyone would be charged in the case. He would not say who owned the gun or speculate on how the 4-year-old got the weapon.

Toms River Police Chief Michael Mastronardy called the shooting a “tragic incident” that has affected the whole community.

The shooting came within days after two other children were involved in shootings:

In Huntingdon, Tenn., a 2-year-old boy shot 22-year-old Reika Kidd in the abdomen after finding a loaded gun. According to The Jackson Sun, Sheriff Andy Dickson said Kidd’s partner, Jamal Gray, said he sleeps with the 9mm Glock under his pillow and usually locks it up during the day. On Sunday, Kidd’s 2-year-old son found it and picked it up, causing it to discharge.

In Lebanon, Tenn., a 4-yearold boy grabbed a loaded gun at a family cookout on Saturday and accidentally shot and killed the wife of a Wilson County sheriff ’s deputy, Daniel Fanning, who was showing his weapons to a relative in a bedroom of his home on Saturday when the boy came in and picked up a gun off the bed. Sheriff Robert Bryan said the weapon discharged, killing 48-year-old Josephine Fanning.