A 14-year-old in Jacksonville, Florida, has been charged criminal negligence after a 6-year-old found the loaded gun the teen left out and shot himself in the face. The Jacksonville Sheriff's Office shared that the younger boy suffered a "gunshot wound in the facial area" and that he was declared dead at the scene.
Local news stations have also shared that the 6-year-old boy's parents are both currently in jail.
The sheriff's department has declined to reveal the names of both children involved as they are minors. The department only commented: "A firearm had been left in a location in which the child was able to access. It appears at this time that after retrieving it, the child ultimately shot himself while handling the loaded firearm."
Police also noted that the weapon "had last been in the possession of a 14-year-old juvenile earlier in the day" and that the 14-year-old was detained, questioned, and charged swiftly.
The 6-year-old was reportedly in the custody of his uncle, Zachary Williams. It's believed that the young child was in his room watching TV when he found the gun and began playing with it.
Williams described his nephew as a regular child. "He was a regular 6-year-old. He liked to play. He was very lovable."
He also pleaded with other families to make sure their own weapons are securely locked up.
"Please make sure the guns are locked away in a safe," Williams said. "Please. I wouldn't want any other family to go through this."
First Coast News Crime and Safety Analyst Mark Baughman also weighed in with advice: "It's always paramount to make sure that if you own a gun, you're a gun owner, you have to have it secure, you always have to have it know where it is."
The 14-year-old could face up to seven years in prison, but Baughman told First Coast News that the judge will likely not uphold it.
"There's things, provisions a judge can put in that sentencing such as some type of speaking engagement the individual can do on gun safety, things like that, other ways to mitigate that sentence down, because if he is a juvenile, I would think that they would maybe build in certain factors into that sentencing phase."
