News

10-Year-Old Boy Shot By Babysitter Who Was Taking Selfies While Holding a Handgun

NewsPublished Feb 27, 2020
By Kaitlin Stanford
Police gather outside Houston apartmentCBS DFW/YouTube

Police arrived at a disturbing scene Tuesday in Houston, Texas, after a 19-year-old woman accidentally shot the 10-year-old boy she was babysitting at the time. Caitlyn Smith, who is reportedly the aunt of the unnamed boy, claimed to have been taking selfies with the pistol at the time of the shooting, when it unexpectedly discharged.

The incident happened at an apartment complex in Harris County, according to CNN.

When Smith came across the gun, she allegedly thought it was unloaded. Moments later, the teen began posing with the firearm and snapping photos of herself with her cellphone. 

But unfortunately, the gun was loaded -- and while posing with it for a photo, a bullet was fired.

The bullet struck the 10-year-old boy in the stomach, sending him to the hospital in critical condition.

Luckily, he's expected to survive, Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez tweeted on Wednesday. And according to Senior Deputy Thomas Gilliland, who spoke with CNN, the boy underwent surgery to remove the bullet and was in stable condition.

Smith has since been arrested and charged with injury to a child, causing serious bodily injury, the sheriff said.

Sadly, the story is yet another reminder of how often accidental shootings take place -- and just how life-threatening they can be.

From 2006 to 2016, nearly 7,000 people died from unintentional shootings in the US, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported. In fact, accidental and preventable gun deaths make up 1% of overall gun-related deaths in the nation, the National Safety Council found

It's why the American Academy of Pediatrics, or AAP, strongly recommends that guns not be present in homes with children.

“The perception is that a loaded handgun will keep a family safe. There is no evidence that it will keep them safe,” pediatrician Dr. Eric J. Sigel shared on the AAP website. “There is evidence that it increases the chances of unintentional injury, homicide and suicide.”

The safest homes, the pediatrician says, are ones with no guns.

And if a home does have one, Sigel strongly urged parents to look into safe storage. This includes storing a gun unloaded and with a lock on at all times. It should be kept in a gun safe, lockbox, or vault and separate from the ammunition, according to the AAP.

Before sending your child on a playdate or allowing a child to visit friends or family members, parents should ask whether there are guns present -- and if so, whether they are properly stored.

Firearms are dangerous weapons so take precautions to make sure things like that don’t happen,” Gilliland told CNN. “Taking selfies was not the best thing to be doing.”

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