HAMPTON, Va. – A 5-year-old shot himself with his mother’s firearm Tuesday morning, Virginia State Police said.
Police were sent to investigate a shooting that occurred near Mercury Boulevard on I-64 in Hampton.
Preliminary investigations revealed that around 9 a.m., a 28-year-old Portsmouth resident was driving her 5-year-old son to a doctor’s appointment when the child unbuckled himself from his child seat and got hold of his mother’s purse, which contained a handgun, VSP said.
The mother told police she was on the phone and did not realize what her son was doing.
VSP said she heard a loud bang and later discovered her son had shot himself in the wrist. The mother drove to a Patient First Center in Newport News to have her son treated.
Once at Patient First, the child was examined and then was transported to Norfolk CHKD. He is currently in stable condition.
The Hampton Commonwealth Attorney’s Office will be consulted to determine if charges should be placed, police said.
