4 year old boy shoots friend in head in US state of New Jersey




The shooting incident took place outside a shopping center in Middlesex County, New Jersey.
Police say a 4-year-old boy in the US state of New Jersey has shot and seriously injured a 6-year-old friend.


Police said on Tuesday that the boy took a rifle he found in his family's home in the town of Toms River and shot his friend in the head at a distance of about 14 meters on Monday night, AFP reported.

"The young boys were playing," Toms River police chief Michael Mastronardy told a press conference. "The 4-year-old went into the house, retrieved the rifle from within the house: a .22 caliber rifle."

"A shot went out, and the 6-year-old was struck in the head," he said.

The older boy was in hospital in "serious" condition, Mastronardy added.

"This is a tragic accident and our thoughts go out to the family," the police chief stated. "We encourage everyone to take a look and make sure their weapons are safe and secure."

Monday’s incident took place two days after another 4-year-old shot and killed the wife of a local sheriff's deputy at her home in Lebanon, Tennessee.

Every year, more than 30,000 people are shot and killed in the United States.

The US averages 87 gun deaths each day as a function of gun violence, with an average of 183 injured, according to the University of Chicago Crime Lab and the Centers for Disease Control.

The year 2012 was a record setting year for gun sales in the US.

About 4.5 million firearms are sold annually in the United States at a cost of 2 to 3 billion dollars.

On December 14, 2012, twenty children and six adult victims were fatally shot by a gunman -- who later killed himself -- at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in the town of Newtown in the US state of Connecticut. Earlier in the day, the assailant killed his mother in another location.

There have been reports that the twenty-year-old killer, Adam Lanza, suffered from a personality disorder, was on the antidepressant Prozac, and was fond of first-person shooter games.




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