Published Tuesday, Aug. 1, 2017 | 2:41 p.m.
Updated Tuesday, Aug. 1, 2017 | 6:30 p.m.
A 3-year-old boy is dead after suffering an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound today in the southwest valley, according to Metro Police.
The boy died at University Medical Center about 45 minutes after police and medics were first dispatched to the neighborhood, Officer Larry Hadfield said from the scene.
First responders were called about 2 p.m. to the 9500 block of Chandler Springs Avenue, near Fort Apache and Warm Springs roads, Hadfield said.
Investigators from Metro’s abuse and neglect and homicide units were trying to determine how the boy got a hold of the gun and the circumstances that preceded the shooting, Hadfield said.
Police said that the shooting was reported as an accidental discharge of a firearm.
There were adults and children at the house when the gun went off, Hadfield said.
Further details were not immediately available, but Hadfield made an emotional plea to gun owners, “It’s imperative, as gun owners, that you stow your firearms in a safe way,” he said. “It doesn’t matter how old your kids are, it doesn’t matter where your kids are, (firearms) should be locked up at all times so that tragedies like this do not happen in our community.”