Police: 3-Year-Old Boy Finds Gun, Fatally Shoots Himself In Clinton Township

DETROIT (WWJ) - Police say a 3-year-old boy has been killed after he found a gun in Clinton Township.

It happened Tuesday afternoon, according to police, at the Newport Arms apartment complex on Lotus Street, east of Gratiot Ave. The parents told investigators they were outside when they heard a loud bang and found the 3-year-old boy with a gunshot wound.

He was taken to McLaren Macomb hospital where he was pronounced dead.

Clinton Township Police Captain Richard Maierle says it appears the boy — who'd been playing with some other children — found, picked up and himself fired the handgun, and that the shooting was an accident.

It's unclear who owns the weapon, which Maierle said investigators have not been able to locate.

"Someone saw the gun at first, laying on the ground," Maierle told WWJ's Zahra Huber, "and the gun then subsequently disappeared. No one knows where it went."

There have been no arrests. Maierle said detectives were interviewing witnesses at the scene as part of an ongoing investigation.

No one else was hurt. The child's name was not immediately released.