7-Year-Old Boy Hospitalized After Younger Brother Accidentally Shoots Him In Neck

A 7-year-old boy was in hospital after he was accidentally shot by his younger brother at their home in Selah, Washington.

Police arrived at the home in the 1100 block of W. Goodlander Rd on Wednesday evening after receiving information that a boy was shot. The officers found the 7-year-old unidentified boy with a gunshot wound to the neck. The boy was rushed to Virginia Mason Memorial Hospital for treatment. He was then airlifted to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle. Though the boy’s condition was not known, the family members expect him to make a full recovery, KCYU-LD reported.

Meanwhile, during the investigation, the victim’s father told the officers that the victim’s younger sibling accidentally shot his brother in the neck after managing to retrieve a firearm from a gun safe.

Urging gun owners to store their firearms in an appropriate manner, Selah Police Department said, "While this is a tragic event, we are grateful the circumstances were not worse than they are."

An investigation into the incident was ongoing and the age of the younger sibling was not known. It was also not clear if anyone was charged in connection with the incident.

In a similar incident earlier this year, a three-year-old child died after she was accidentally shot by her seven-year-old brother at their home in Westminster, Colorado. Police arrived at the home and found the unidentified girl with a gunshot wound. She was rushed to a trauma center where she succumbed to her injuries. Investigation revealed that the siblings were playing when the seven-year-old boy found an unsecured and loaded shotgun and accidentally shot the victim with the weapon. Their mother, identified as 24-year-old Michaela Dawn Harman, was taken into custody and charged with criminal negligence.

"Tragic examples like this remind us of the importance to separate guns and ammunition kept in the home and to secure firearms in a locked safe or utilize other childproof safety devices. Parents have a responsibility to keep children from being able to access firearms, even inside the home," Westminster Police Department said in a press release.