Criminal charges are expected to be filed soon, but it is not clear who will be charged.
A two-year-old boy was accidentally shot dead by his three-year-old brother Thursday in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, police said. Five adults were inside the apartment when the shooting happened and each allegedly gave different and conflicted statements, police told the Star Tribune.
The gun that was fired allegedly went missing and initially, investigators suspected a 20-year-old man in the home to be behind the shooting, according to police.
However, investigators later determined a 3-year-old boy in the home accidentally shot his brother. The victim and his brother discovered the gun inside the apartment and began playing with it before it went off, firing a bullet into the 2-year-old’s stomach, officials said.
"it is most likely that the [older] brother discharged the firearm. We don't see that the 2-year-old would have the capacity to do it," Deputy Police Chief Mark Bruley told the Tribune.
According to police, the children's 20-year-old mother and 57-year-old grandmother, as well as the mother's boyfriend, are expected to face charges in connection to the shooting. They have not yet been charged with a specific crime. The mother and grandmother were initially jailed, but released "so they could say their final goodbyes" to the 2-year-old boy while he was on life support at the hospital, Bruley said.
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