Baby fatally shot by toddler in Texas after child accesses loaded gun in trunk: Police
A baby is dead after police said he was shot by a toddler inside a car parked outside a south central Texas medical center this week.
According to Camelia Juarez, a San Antonio Police Department public information officer, the tragic shooting took place Monday afternoon.
Officers were dispatched just before 12:15 p.m. to the Audie L. Murphy Memorial VA Hospital for a report of an injured child, Juarez said, and when officers arrived they learned an infant had suffered a fatal gunshot wound.
According to a preliminary investigation, police learned three children were in the back seat of the vehicle: an 11-month-old, a two-year-old and a three-year-old when, at some point, "one of the children gained access to the trunk where a loaded long gun was being stored and pulled the trigger causing the gun to go off and shoot the victim."
The 11-month-old was pronounced deceased at the scene.
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'A terrible, terrible tragedy'
During a news conference, San Antonio Police Chief William McManus said a woman was also in the parked car.
Police have not released the relationship between the woman and the three children, and it was not immediately known who the firearm belongs to.
"What we have here is a terrible, terrible tragedy," KENS 5 TV reported McManus said. "In the very rear of the vehicle, there was a loaded weapon. One of the two older children got ahold of that weapon and accidentally shot the 11-month or 10-month-old."
Baby killed identified as Khamari Khols Lang
The Bexar County Medical Examiner's Office identified the child as Khamari Khols Lang.
An autopsy will determine the child's official manner of death.
According to an online fundraiser created by the boy's aunt, Kheena-Marie Hutton, Khamari was the youngest of six siblings whose family recently moved to San Antonio.
"He brought immense joy to our lives and was in the process of learning to walk. His loving spirit will be deeply missed," Hutton wrote on the page.
As of Wednesday, more than two dozen people had donated nearly $2,000 to help the family with the baby's funeral expenses.
As of Wednesday, no arrest had been made in the case, which Juarez said remained under investigation.
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Previous child-related shooting deaths this year
On June 2, a 12-year-old playing with a firearm in a New York City apartment unintentionally shot and killed his cousin, officials said. Three days later, a 5-year-old boy with a loaded handgun shot and killed himself in a Maryland home, according to reports.
That same month, a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study published looked at data on families with children and loaded firearms in their homes in a handful of states. In at least 25% of these homes, at least one loaded gun was left unsecured.
Contributing: Eduardo Cuevas
Natalie Neysa Alund is a senior reporter for Paste BN. Reach her at nalund@usatoday.com and follow her on X @nataliealund.