A 19-year-old Georgia man was found dead Monday morning after a 3-year-old accidentally gained access to his gun and shot him in the back of the head while the rest of the household was still asleep, police said.
Authorities in Hiram responded to the shooting in the quaint cul-de-sac neighborhood shortly after 7 a.m. Monday, according to the Paulding County Sheriff’s Office.
Deputies found Kabrel Patterson, 19, with a gunshot sustained to the back of his head. They tried in vain to save his life until emergency responders arrived, but he was soon pronounced dead on the scene, PCSO spokesperson Jordan Yuodis said.
Authorities cleared the area to interview the shell-shocked family, who said the man had been spending the night after arriving the night before.
Patterson and the child were not related, according to the PCSO.
Patterson had brought the gun with him, and the toddler likely gained access to it sometime during the early morning while the rest of the household was asleep, authorities said.
“Don’t leave your guns lying around—especially if you have small children. Anyone who’s ever had small children knows they’re curious. They’re going to pick up things. They’re going to try things,” Yuodis advised.
Flabbergasted neighbors flocked to assist the family, offering hugs and refreshments as they watched police cordon off the home. The community had nothing but praise for the grieving family as they struggled to reconcile with the unexpected tragedy.
“Prayers for the family. The older kids look out for the younger kids,” one neighbor told Fox 5 Atlanta.
They seem to be, basically, such a good family,” another neighbor told the outlet.
None of the home’s residents will face criminal charges, the PCSO said, since it was Patterson’s gun that was left out.
Georgia has the fifth-weakest gun laws in the country, according to Everytown for Gun Safety.
Still, even states with the strictest gun laws struggle to keep firearms out of youths’ reach.
In New York City, a teenager was shot and killed in the Bronx on Wednesday when a gunman turned up at a water gun fight. Tragically, the victim’s mother also lost her eldest son to gun violence when he was shot and killed in 2021.
In December, a young mother in California was killed by her 2-year-old after the child got hold of her boyfriend’s unsecured gun.
A 3-year-old girl in Philadelphia mistakenly turned her father’s gun on herself in April 2024, sustaining a gunshot to the eye before eventually dying two days later.
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