A 5-year-old boy was killed when he and a 6-year-old boy found a gun at their grandparents’ home in western Michigan, police said Wednesday.
The shooting occurred Monday in Newaygo County’s Garfield Township, six weeks after a new Michigan law came into effect that requires owners to keep guns locked up when minors are present.
The gun fired while in the hands of the 6-year-old boy, state police said on X.
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The “two children found a firearm in the bedroom of their grandparents’ home,” police said.
A Michigan child was accidentally killed after finding a gun at his grandparents’ home.
Results of the ongoing investigation will be shared with the county prosecutor, police said.
“This family is grieving,” Lt. Michelle Robinson told WZZM-TV.
Violation of Michigan’s new gun storage law carries different consequences for an owner, depending on the details of each incident and whether someone is wounded or killed.
In February, a Flint man was the first person to be charged, after his 2-year-old daughter got access to a gun and wounded herself. The case is pending.
Twenty-one states have laws permitting criminal charges against people who fail to keep a gun inaccessible to a minor, according to the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence.