Chicago girl, 4, dies after being shot in the chest by 'very young child' who found loaded gun in bag a visitor brought to their home
A four-year-old girl died after se was accidentally shot by another child Thursday evening in Chicago, police said.
Makalah McKay succumbed to her injuries at the University of Chicago’s Comer Children’s Hospital less than 24 hours after she was shot in the chest.
The loaded gun had been left unattended in a bag inside a home in Englewood by a man who failed to store it properly, a preliminary report by Chicago Police said.
Makalah and a second child, who is also very young, went through the bag before Makalah was shot.
Police did not disclose the man's relationship to the children, if he had a gun permit or if they are planning to press charges against him.
A man, believed to be the one who left the gun inside the home, was brought in for questioning at the district station.
Makalah's mother broke down in tears when she learned her daughter had passed away as she waited outside the hospital with family.
Makalah McKay, 4, died after she was accidentally shot in the chest by another child. A loaded gun had been left unlocked inside the home the children were at. It is unclear at this time if police are seeking to press charges against the unnamed man
Police were called to a duplex in the 6400 block of South Carpenter Street after reports that Makalah had been accidentally shot around 6pm.
Hours later, officers blocked the front entrance of the building and took photos of the living room in the first floor, CBS2 reported.
This is the latest incident of accidental shootings by children after they've been left unsupervised and with access to guns.
Police were called to a duplex in the 6400 block of South Carpenter Street in Englewood after Makalah had been shot around 6pm on August 5
On Wednesday, a 5-year-old boy from Utah died after he shot himself. The boy went downstairs overnight and played with the firearm while his family was sleeping.
Last year, a 7-year-old unintentionally shot her 11-year brother in Chicago's North Lawndale neighborhood. Fortunately the boy survived.
There were at least 369 unintended shootings by children in the United States in 2020, resulting in 142 deaths and 242 injuries, according to Everytown for Gun Safety.
The pandemic has exacerbated the issue, with an alarming spike in these types of accidental shootings. They went up 30% from May to December 2020 compared to the same period in 2019.