A nine-year-old boy has accidentally shot his younger brother in the head while playing in a bedroom close in Louisiana.
The boys' mother faces a child desertion charge, authorities said on Wednesday.
Colonel John Fortunato, a spokesman for the Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office, said 29-year-old Generra Brown was issued a court summons for the misdemeanor charge because she left the children unsupervised at a Marrero home before the Tuesday evening shooting that killed her son, Melvin Brady.
Fortunato said investigators believe that Brown, a home health care professional, was caring for a neighbor across the street when her nine-year-old son found a loaded gun while he and his brother were playing in a bedroom closet.
As the older brother handled the handgun, it fired one shot that struck the younger child.
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The five-year-old was pronounced dead at the scene.
Officers responded to the shooting around 6.30pm on Tuesday. Brown dialed 911 after learning about the shooting from the older child.
