Warrants: 3-year-old fatally shot after finding dad’s gun

The death of a 3-year-old in Pine County appears to have happened after the child’s father left a gun out in his room.

The Pine County Sheriff’s Office confirmed Wednesday that it’s investigating the death of the child, who was found in a home on the 500 block of First Street Southwest at around 9 p.m. Tuesday.

Search warrant applications reveal that the child’s father and his roommate told law enforcement that they were in the basement of the home when they heard something fall upstairs, where the child was alone.

A short time later, they heard a gunshot and the child’s father ran upstairs to find his son lying in the father’s bedroom, suffering from a gunshot wound to the head.

The father said he had a 9 mm handgun in his room that the child got ahold of.

The affidavit adds that authorities found the gun lying on top of a safe but it had been moved in the process of trying to save the boy.

No criminal charges had been filed as of Thursday morning and the case remains under investigation.