Four-year-olds involved in separate U.S. shooting incidents, one fatal

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Authorities say a 4-year-old boy grabbed a loaded gun at a family cookout and accidentally shot and killed the wife of a Tennessee sheriff’s deputy.

Investigators say Wilson County Deputy Daniel Fanning on Saturday was showing his weapons to a relative in a bedroom of his Lebanon home when the toddler came in and picked up a gun off the bed. Sheriff Robert Bryan says the weapon discharged, hitting 48-year-old Josephine Fanning.

She was pronounced dead at the scene. The child is not related to her or her husband.

Bryan says the shooting was a terrible accident and that within seconds of Fanning placing the gun on the bed, the toddler picked it up.

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The gun was not Fanning’s service weapon and the sheriff says the deputy’s weapons are normally stored in a safe.

Four-year-old accidentally shoots six-year-old in the head

Authorities in Toms River, N.J. are deciding whether to charge anyone after police say a 6-year-old was shot in the head by a 4-year-old.

The older boy is in serious condition.

Authorities are still investigating how the younger child obtained the .22-calibre rifle from his family’s home Monday night.

Police Chief Michael Mastronardy says the children were outside the 4-year-old’s home when the boy went inside, got the rifle and shot the 6-year-old about 15 metres away. It’s not clear if the 4-year-old pulled the trigger or if the rifle accidentally discharged.

The parents of the 4-year-old were home at the time.

No names have been released.

The shooting comes amid debate over gun control laws in the wake of the Connecticut school shooting.

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