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4-year-old child shot inside Detroit home by 9-year-old brother

By David Komer and Camille Amiri
Published  October 12, 2023 4:47pm EDT
Crime and Public Safety
FOX 2 Detroit

Accidental shooting by 9-year-old injures little brother, 4, in Detroit

A 4-year-old boy was shot by his older brother who was playing with a gun in a tragic accident. Police say the victim is expected to recover.

DETROIT (FOX 2) - Detroit police are investigating a shooting where a 4-year-old boy was wounded in the cheek. He is expected to recover.

Police say the bullet went through to his shoulder and that the child is alert and unfazed by it. It is believed his 9-year-old brother fired the gun - owned by their older 17-year-old brother - accidentally when he was playing with it.

4-year-old boy shot in the cheek by 9-year-old brother in apparent accident

Detroit police give an update on a young boy shot accidentally by his brother while being unsupervised.

The incident happened in the 5500 block of Larchmont Street, near Tireman and I-96 inside a home where the children were unsupervised.

"You can heal from these type of scars, but you've got the mental wounds as well," said DPD Assistant Chief Charles Fitzgerald. "Not only with the older brother - when I say older brother, he's still just a child, he's a little boy himself - pulling the trigger and shooting his brother. And then, the wounds his brother is going to have.

"Gun locks. We give them out in every precinct, we will bring them to you. We have to secure these weapons."

Fitzgerald said that investigators are looking into why the 17-year-old had a gun when it is illegal. 

Stay with FOX 2 for more information as it becomes available. 

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