This afternoon’s critical gunshot wound suffered by a three-year-old boy appears to have been a self-inflicted accident.
The child’s mother and her boyfriend brought him to Summit Medical Center from their Smith Springs Road apartment at 12:20 p.m. with a gunshot wound to his abdomen. He was transported by helicopter to Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital and rushed to surgery.
It appears that the child removed the nine-millimeter pistol from his mother’s purse in her bedroom while she was asleep and pulled the trigger. Her boyfriend said that he was in the living room when the shot was fired and immediately came to assist the mother in rendering aid.
This investigation, being led by Youth Services Detective Edward Conrads, is continuing. No charges have been placed thus far.