A 57-year-old Florida woman was reportedly shot in the back by her 6-year-old granddaughter while driving in North Port, Fla., Thursday afternoon.
Police said the child found a holstered gun in the back pocket of a driver’s seat and fired one shot through the seat, WFLA reported. The victim drove herself home before being air-lifted to a Sarasota hospital. Her injuries were reportedly not life-threatening.
North Port’s chief of police called the shooting an “unfortunate example of the importance of gun safety.”
Advocacy group Everytown for Gun Safety, founded by former Mayor Mike Bloomberg, says there’ve been at least 20 unintentional shootings by children in 2023 — nine resulting in death. The youngest fatality was a 3-year-old Texas boy who shot himself with a gun from his mother’s nightstand.
In 2022, Everytown for Gun Safety reported 145 people were killed with guns unintentionally fired by children, including a 13-year-old Newark, N.J. girl who inadvertently shot herself. A 13-year-old Yonkers boy reportedly survived a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
A 2-year-old boy in Maine reportedly shot both his parents in 2021 after finding a gun on their nightstand. Both parents — including a dad who suffered a head injury — survived. A few months later, a 2-year-old North Carolina boy killed his father while playing with a 40-caliber Glock pistol.
