US boy, 3, shoots dead 1-year-old: police

US police say a gun went off and killed a 1-year-old boy after a 3-year-old boy picked it up.

A three-year-old boy picked up an unattended gun inside a home and it went off, shooting a one-year-old boy in the head and killing him, US police say.

Cleveland Police Chief Calvin Williams told reporters gathered outside the home after the shooting on Sunday afternoon that investigators are trying to determine where the gun came from.

Cleveland.com reports the 1-year-old was taken to a hospital and pronounced dead.

Full details about the shooting on the city's east side weren't released, but Williams said at least one adult was home when it happened.

"It's a sad day for Cleveland," he told reporters.

"This fascination that we have with handguns, not just in this city but in this country, has to stop. This is a senseless loss of life."

Cleveland.com reported the boy's mother could be heard screaming on the back porch after learning her son had died.

Neighbours said the mother lived in the house with at least three small children.


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Source: AAP



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