US boy, 6, critical after being shot in head by 4-year-old neighbour

A 4-year-old child brought a gun outside his home shot and shot a 6-year-old neighbour in the head when the weapon fired as they played.

The child got the rifle from inside his home in Toms River in southern New Jersey and it discharged accidently around 6:40pm on Monday, Ocean County Prosecutor Joseph Coronato said at a news conference. The wounded child was about 15 yards away from the younger one at the time.

The younger child’s mother then called 911 to report the shooting.

The wounded child was shot in the head and hospitalised in serious condition. Further details on his injuries were not disclosed. The younger child was not hurt.

Coronato declined to provide specific details on the shooting, citing the ongoing investigation, and said it was “too early” to know whether anyone would be charged in the case. He would not say who owned the gun or speculate on how the 4-year-old got the .22-caliber rifle.

Toms River police chief Michael Mastronardy called the shooting a “tragic incident” that has affected the whole community.

Debi Coto, who lives a few doors down from where the shooting occurred said: “I had just been telling my sister how nice it is to see kids playing together and enjoying themselves, and then this happens.”

Coto said the 4-year-old’s mother seemed “very upset” about what had happened and appeared to be trying to determine what had happened.

The shooting came just days after a 4-year-old boy in Tennessee grabbed a loaded gun at a family meal and accidentally shot and killed the wife of a sheriff’s deputy.

The accidents happened amid growing debate in American society over gun control laws in the wake of December’s Connecticut school massacre.