A 6-year-old boy has died in what police said was an accidental shooting in Montgomery County, Maryland, on Tuesday.
Police arrived to the 10000 block of Maple Leaf Drive in Montgomery Village around 2:45 p.m. for reports of an unresponsive person.
Officers and fire department personnel found the boy with an “apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound to the face,” Montgomery County police said in an update.
They performed CPR on the boy, who was not responsive when they arrived. The child died on the scene.
Montgomery County police spokesperson Shiera Goff said during a news conference that there is no foul play suspected and that it is being investigated as an accidental shooting. She added that there was one adult inside the house when the shooting happened.
“There’s really nothing that I can say that would, right now, bring comfort to anyone,” Goff said. “This is a child. This was an isolated incident. No one was targeted. This child unfortunately gained access to this firearm.”
Police are investigating when the child had access to the gun, who it belongs to and whether or not it was licensed or not.
“It’s too early to say right now whether there will be any charges,” Goff said.
Below is a map of the area where the shooting happened:
Neighbor Ameer remembered the boy a charming and energetic child.
“He was quite an energetic kid, he was always giggling and smiling,” he said.
Another neighbor, Keith Bower, said the loss is devastating for the tight-knit neighborhood.
“Any loss of a child is devastating, but certainly it just hits home with a neighborhood that are pretty close together,” he said.
WTOP’s Mike Murillo and Jessica Kronzer contributed to this report.
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