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Photo: Tampa Bay Times / picture alliance / ZUMAPRESS.com
In the US state of Florida, an eight-year-old boy apparently shot and killed a one-year-old girl with his father's gun and injured another toddler.
The boy's father left his gun in a hotel room.
The child found her there and then unintentionally fired a shot, said the responsible sheriff in the Escambia district, Chip Simmons, on Monday (local time).
The shot hit the one-year-old first, then the bullet injured another two-year-old.
The girls' mother was the gun owner's girlfriend, a multiple-time felon, Simmons explained at a news conference.
After Sunday's incident, the 45-year-old father returned to the hotel room in Pensacola and, according to investigators, initially hid the gun and drugs, Simmons said.
He will now be charged with possession of weapons as a convicted criminal, obstruction of the investigation, culpable negligence and improper storage of a weapon.
“What we have here is a 14-time felon who has a gun with his girlfriend at a local motel;
he leaves the gun, does not secure it properly, allowing his eight-year-old son to pick up the gun and fire;
he kills a year-old and injures a two-year-old,” Simmons said.
The two-year-old was not seriously injured, Simmons said.
Her twin sister, who was also in the hotel room, was not physically injured.