5-Year-Old Illinois Boy Accidentally Shoots Himself After Taking Out Gun From Father's Pocket

A man in Chicago, Illinois, was arrested Friday (April 24) after his five-year-old son shot himself in the hand with his father’s gun.

According to local reports, the father was identified as 36-year-old Bernard Shields. The younger son, aged five, saw his father in possession of a handgun. While his parents were sleeping, the unidentified boy found the weapon in his father’s pocket and took it to the bathroom. The weapon accidentally got discharged, striking the boy in his hand.

The father drove away from the home with his elder son, aged 10. He then dumped the gun in a field. Shields was, however, arrested in the 6100 block of South State Street a while later. The man told the officers that he panicked as he was afraid that he would have to give up his sons to state child welfare officials. He was charged with unlawful use of a weapon, possession of ammunition without a FOID card and causing a child to be endangered.

Meanwhile, the victim, who was rushed to a local hospital following the incident, was listed stable and in good condition.

The incident comes a week after a seven-year-old Colorado boy fatally shot his three-year-old sister at their home. Police responded a home after receiving a call stating that a girl was shot inside her home. The responding officers found the girl with a gunshot wound and rushed her to a trauma center where she succumbed to her injuries. Investigation revealed that the “two siblings were playing when the older sibling found an unsecured and loaded shotgun” and accidentally shot her with it. Their mother, identified as 24-year-old Michaela Dawn Harman, was at the home when the incident took place. Harman was arrested and charged with criminal negligence.

In another incident in Texas last month, an infant accidentally shot a four-year-old at a motel. Police responded to the motel and found two children with gunshot wounds. It was revealed that the infant got hold of the gun which accidentally got discharged, striking him and the four-year-old boy in the lower part of the body. Both the children were rushed to a local hospital where they were listed stable.