Florida boy, 8, plays with dad’s gun and shoots baby

An eight-year-old boy has killed a baby and injured a little girl while playing with his father’s gun in Florida. According to Escambia County Sheriff Chip Simmons, the 45-year-old, who has multiple convictions, brought the gun to a motel meeting with his girlfriend, her one-year-old daughter and two-year-old twin sisters, where the tragedy occurred.

According to the sheriff, while his girlfriend slept, the man left the motel but left the gun in a closet. The eight-year-old found her there and started playing with her, fatally shooting the baby. The bullet penetrated the body of the little victim, seriously injuring one of the twin girls.

Eight-year-old shoots his little sister in Florida

Before the police arrived, the 45-year-old man removed the gun and “some substances” from the room, Simmons reported. It’s probably drugs. The man now has to answer for illegal possession of weapons, gross negligence and cover-up.

Such dramas are almost part of everyday life in the USA. Every year, hundreds of children “encounter loaded guns in closets, nightstands, backpacks, purses, or just lying around” with which they unintentionally fire, the organization Everytown For Gun Safety complained in its latest report.

Accidental shooting by minors is responsible for an average of 350 deaths a year, according to the organization, which advocates for more regulation of firearms.