A handgun kept in an unlocked glove box was accessed by a 7-year old who then discharged it into the head of his two-year-old brother, killing him, according to the San Bernardino county Sheriff’s Department.
The incident occurred on December 2 in the parking lot at 8250 Day Creek Boulevard, near the intersection of Foothill Boulevard and Day Creek Boulevard in Rancho Cucamonga.
Deputies were dispatched to the shopping center, which hosts Floor & Decor, AT Home, Friar Tux, Sake Me Sushi, Buffalo Wild Wings, Metro Supermarket, the Red Robin Restaurant and the Vitamin Shoppe at 3:56 p.m. They learned upon arrival that the toddler had been shot once in the head.
According to a statement obtained by the Sentinel, while the 7-year-old and his brother were inside the cab of a truck and their mother was loading just-purchased merchandise into the truck bed, the gun fired once.
Sheriff’s deputies responded just before 4 p.m. to the shooting in the parking lot of a shopping center at 8250 Day Creek Blvd., where they found the 2-year-old boy had been shot, according to the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department.
The two-year-old was immediately transported to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead.