CHICAGO —  Chicago police say two children were injured when a loaded handgun hidden inside an oven discharged when the stove was heated for cooking.

Twenty-four-year-old Anthony Smith of Chicago has been charged with two counts of endangering the life of a child.

Police spokesman Marcel Bright says Smith apparently had hidden the gun in the oven.

The injured children's sister was cooking Friday afternoon when the gun went off. A 4-year-old boy is in stable condition with a gunshot wound to the leg. His 12-year-old brother was struck on the forehead by a fragment from the gun. He has been treated and released.

Smith, a convicted felon on parole, also was charged with unlawful use of a weapon.

It was not immediately clear if Smith was represented by an attorney.