A two-year-old child accidentally shot and killed himself while playing with a gun that belonged to his father, an Anderson County Sheriff’s deputy. The tragic incident happened at the home of the deputy in the Colony Mobile Home Park of Anderson County, South Carolina in the United States.
The Anderson County Deputy Coroner, Don McCown, stated that two-year-old Josiah Antwan Tate was at the home with his mother when the accident happened. McCown said that an Anderson County Sheriff’s deputy who lives at the home had come home and laid his guns on a counter in the bedroom. The deputy then left the home to run a few errands.
A short time later, the baby’s mother walked into the bedroom and noticed that her baby was holding one of the deputy’s guns. Seconds before his mother could take it away, Tate shot himself in the head.
“I walked out, heard everyone screaming someone’s been shot,” said Lind Bull, a neighbor. “I went walking into the neighbors house and seen a two-year-old child lying on the floor.”
Don’t take safety for granted
Guns are not freely available in Singapore and it is highly unlikely for the average household to have a gun. But toys that fire projectiles can also be hazardous. Exercise caution when your children are playing with toys such as water pistols, darts, bow and arrows and slingshots. Never leave your children unsupervised.
Children can suffer serious facial injuries if hit by flying objects. Also, such toys are made up of small parts, which can cause choking and suffocation if children insert them into their mouths.
Projectile toys can include:
- Guns or other toys that shoot small darts into the air.
- Toys that can shoot objects, such as nails, into the air at high speed.
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