A three-year-old Florida child died after shooting himself with a gun, authorities said.

A 3-year-old boy in Florida shot himself with a gun kept in his parents’ bedroom, officials said.

The Volusia County Sheriff’s Office said deputies “responded to one of the worst calls imaginable” just before 6:30 p.m. Wednesday at Nectarine Road in Daytona Park Estates in Deland.

The first deputy tried to save his life, but the boy’s injuries were “too severe”, and at 19:03 he was declared dead in the nearest hospital.

Sheriff Mike Chitwood said during Thursday’s press conference that the parents went to nearby Publix to buy groceries and left their 16-year-old daughter to babysit her younger brothers, aged 7 and 3, on Wednesday night.

“For some reason, I don’t know the reason, and I don’t know if we will ever find out the reason, a 3-year-old child wandered into the bedroom and wandered into the end table, and when he got to the end of the table, he took out pistol, turned it towards him and shot himself at point-blank range,” he said.

Chitwood noted that it only takes 4.6 pounds to pull the trigger on this gun.

The sheriff said the weapon the child took possession of was a Janick 9mm firearm that was stored on a nightstand next to his parents’ bed. He said there was a second firearm in the house, a Glock on the fridge.

He noted that there is a safe in the bedroom, but it “does not work.” Investigators will find out how long this safe has not been used.

The father, a Florida Correctional Officer, told police that his firearms were usually stored in a safe in the bedroom, but the safe’s electronic lock function stopped working, and instead he placed one weapon on the refrigerator and the other on the nightstand.

According to officials, the case will be fully investigated and transferred to the prosecutor’s office for consideration.

Chitwood stated that violating firearm safety regulations is a second-degree misdemeanor.

According to Florida law, after an accidental shooting of a child, “an arrest may not be made earlier than seven days after the date of the shooting.”

The story goes on

With respect to any parent or guardian of a deceased minor, investigators are required by law to submit their findings and evidence to the State’s Attorney’s Office regarding violations, and the State’s Attorney will evaluate them and “take such action as he or she thinks fit under the circumstances,” the law says. .

“I can’t imagine there is anything in the law books that could punish this family more than what happened last night,” Chitwood said.

The State Department of Children and Families has responded to the incident and is providing assistance and monitoring to the family. He said first responders would also receive counseling services “in light of the trauma sustained from the incident.”

“There is a message here for all parents who have guns and that message is that if you have small children, even if you have teenagers, you should lock them up because you just don’t know,” he said. Chitwood.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com.

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