LOS ANGELES, July 20 (Xinhua) -- A 2-year-old girl was accidentally fatally shot by a 4-year-old boy Friday morning in the San Bernardino County in the western U.S. state of California, said police.
Deputies responded to a home in Muscoy reference a shooting. Preliminary investigation leads investigators to believe that a 4-year-old boy accidentally shot and killed his 2-year-old cousin, according to the San Bernardino County Sheriff' s Department.
The girl died about an hour after being hospitalized. The adults in the house at the time of the shooting or shortly after were taken to Sheriff' s Department headquarters for questioning, a local news outlet, the San Bernardino Sun, reported.
A 72-year-old neighbor of the family called the news "devastating" and told the San Bernardino Sun that people who got guns have to lock them up so kids can't get them.
The San Bernardino County Sheriff' s Department said the investigation is continuing and updates will be provided as new information becomes available. Investigators are trying to determine how the boy got hold of the gun.
According to the Gun Violence Archive, an independent data collection and research group that provides free online public access to accurate information about gun-related violence in the United States, there are 7,965 people were killed in gun-related violence in the country to date, including 380 children under age of 11.
