5-year-old boy shot in the hand Saturday morning, Detroit Police investigate

5-year-old injured in accidental shooting

Police have the person they believe is responsible for the weapon in custody.

DETROIT, Mich. (FOX 2) - A 5-year-old boy was shot in the hand while at home Saturday morning on Detroit's west side.

Detroit Police say the mom of the boy was notified by other adults in the home that the child had been shot. The mom called 9-1-1 around 10:20 a.m. and police responded to the home in the 2900 block of Burlingame Street.

Investigators say it's unknown what happened at this time; either the child got ahold of an unsecured weapon or someone in the home was handling the gun and shot the child. The shooting was accidental, police say.

Police have the person they believe is responsible for the weapon in custody. The child is currently at the hospital in surgery and is expected to recover, according to Detroit Police.

"Unfortunate, unnecessary circumstances once again involving gun ownership and we've just got to do a better job," said Detroit Police Chief James White. "This is something he will think about forever. Something this traumatic for a 5-year-old who was shot, thank God he's alive, but we have to do a better job of maintaining weapons."

Police say once the boy is stabilized they will try to find out as much information from him as they can about what happened. Chief White says there have been 18 kids shot so far this year by their own hands or someone else's.

"We don't know if he will have lifelong injuries as a result of this, but judging by what I know of the injury, he will," said Chief White. "At a time when a kid should be getting up, eating cereal and watching cartoons is being rushed to the hospital because he's been shot, I mean we have to do better."

The relationship between the adults in the home and the 5-year-old boy is unknown at this time.

Police say they are getting a search warrant to recover the weapon and investigate the crime scene.