3-year-old child is shot dead inside his home in Rio de Janeiro

A 3-year-old girl died this Sunday morning (8), after being hit by a gunshot, inside her home, in the neighborhood of Guaratiba, in the west zone of Rio de Janeiro. The child was taken to Rocha Faria Municipal Hospital, but did not survive the injury.

According to the Civil Police, the Capital Homicide Police Station (DHC) is investigating the child's death. The victim's parents were interviewed and the weapon was seized.

The suspicion is that the girl was accidentally shot by her five-year-old sister while they were playing with their father's gun. According to preliminary information, collected by military police officers at the hospital, the girls' mother stated that she and her husband were sleeping when they were woken up by the sound of a gunshot.

When they arrived at the children's room, they saw that the girl was injured and took her to the hospital. The mother also reportedly told the military police that her husband, the girls' father, is registered as a CAC (collector, sports shooter and hunter) and has a 9mm caliber Taurus pistol.

Accidental deaths

According to data from the Ministry of Health, between January 2017 and August this year, 159 children up to 14 years of age were killed by accidental gunshots.

At least 58 of these cases occurred indoors, according to the Ministry of Health. In another 62 cases, the death occurred when the victim was already in a health unit, which prevents knowing the exact location of the incident.

Thirty-one of these records occurred in an unidentified location. Only eight cases occurred on public roads.