NORFOLK, Va. - Last night's shooting and killing of a four-year-old in Suffolk is tragically just the latest incident of gun violence involving children in our area.
News 3 has reported on several incidents this year, including a shooting where an 11-year-old was shot in Portsmouth.
Another shooting left two young children injured in Chesapeake.
So far this year, CHKD says they've treated 14 children for gunshot wounds, but that is on track to be lower than the 34 in 2021 and 37 in 2020.
To try and address the issue, earlier this year News 3 reported on a program at CKHD that aims to help the child victims of gun violence as they recover. It's called Safer Futures and tries to connect young people with a variety of things to assist them.
"We do crisis intervention, assisting with family planning, mental health resources, advocacy in school systems and housing resources," said Kamron Blue. project coordinator.
Part of the issue is also children accidentally shooting themselves or others.
On average nationwide each day, eight children accidentally shoot themselves or someone else due to a gun being improperly stored, according to the anti-gun violence non-profit Brady Campaign.
That happened in Virginia Beach earlier this year when police say a 10-year-old accidentally shot themselves in the leg.
Experts say parents should lock their guns up when not possessing them and keep them out of sight of children. They say it's worth talking to kids at a young age about guns.
"Begin that talk early and talk to them about what to do if they do see a gun - that they don't touch it and they talk to an adult right away,"said Corri Miller-Hobbs, a pediatric injury prevention and outreach coordinator at Children's Hospital of Richmond at VCU and Safe Kids Virginia program coordinator, during an interview with News 3 last year.
While the community in Suffolk tries to comprehend how a four-year-old child could be killed, advocates are working to try and help those who've been impacted by this tragic problem.
"A lot of these kids, once they are discharged, [they]returned back to their home community or school where the incident took place. They have to relieve incident and violence over again," said Blue.
