Four-Year-Old Boy In Arizona Accidentally Shoots At Dad, Kills Him

A four-year-old boy accidentally shot dead his dad at a Prescott Valley home on Friday, authorities in northern Arizona told the NBC News.

The shooting occurred sometime in the afternoon on Friday, when the 35-year-old man and his son were visiting a friend’s home. The son and dad duo were visiting from Phoenix.

According to police officials, the boy found a gun in the living room of the house and fired it accidentally sending a bullet through his dad. Police Sgt. Brandon Bonney said the boy found a handgun and was "making inquisitive statements to his father regarding the firearm and, while he was doing so, shot his father in the chest."

The man, whom police identified to the Associated Press as Justin Stanfield, was soon rushed to a hospital where he died.

No additional information has been released. The boy is said to be with his mother.

Once again, this incident highlights the need to keep loaded guns away from the reach of children. In May, a two-year-old in Kentucky was shot dead by her five-year-old brother with a loaded gun, making it the second incident in less than a week, ABC reported.

A similar incident saw a five-year-old girl in Alaska being shot and killed by her eight-year-old brother.

Since the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting last December, where 26 young children and school authorities lost their lives, the nation has been embroiled in a gun control debate.

President Barack Obama supported the need for tough Federal gun laws, but he failed to get the necessary votes to get the proposal cleared in the U.S. Senate.

According to the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, there were 851 deaths in the U.S. caused by accidental discharges of firearm in 2011. The same year, a total of 14,675 people were injured by accidental discharges of firearms -- 7,991 were under the age of 18 and 3,569 were under 13.