Newark police investigating how 3-year-old boy injured himself with self-inflicted gunshot
Surveillance video shows the frantic moments following the shooting
NEWARK, New Jersey (WABC) -- Police are trying to figure out how a young child got hold of a gun and accidentally pulled the trigger on himself Thursday night.
The 3-year-old boy is in critical condition after he somehow turned a loaded gun on himself, an accident that sent his older brother running for help.
It was about 5:47 p.m. on Thursday when the toddler pulled the trigger inside a blue home on Wainwright Street.
Seven minutes later, surveillance video from a corner store shows his older brother leaving the house, heading to the store for help.
The manager says he came into the store around 5:54 p.m. with his shirt covered in blood. He says the brother told him that he needed help, and that his younger brother could not breathe.
Seconds later, the camera picked up the brother and one of the store clerks heading back to the house. The store clerk immediately returns, sounding the alarm.
When the store clerk came back, he started yelling, "Boss, there's a little boy rolling around in blood."
The manager called 911.
"I'm scared myself because we were here, but we didn't know what was happening, but we saw all the cops and everything," Newark resident Edith Frinpong said.
Frinpong has two children, ages 5 and 7. She lives in the neighborhood, and says it's devastating to hear that a child was injured in this manner. She says she finds it difficult to understand why it was so easy for a child so young to get his hands on a gun.
"We should be careful to put weapons in our homes.. in a safe place," Frinpong said.
Newark police were still conducting their investigation at the home Friday afternoon.
Police say a total of three children were in the house at the time of the shooting.
One mother says she knows it could have ended much worse.
"And what would you say.. you would blame yourself for the rest of your life," Frinpong said.
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