JOPLIN, Mo. – Newton County authorities say a 3-year-old southwest Missouri girl died after she was shot in the head at her home.
Sheriff Ken Copeland says the shooting on Monday morning is considered accidental. No names have been released.
Copeland said emergency responders went to the Bykota Mobile Home Park in rural Joplin after receiving a report that a child was not breathing. She was taken to a Joplin hospital and died from the gunshot wound.
A 6-year-old boy who lived at the home was taken into state protective custody. The children’s mother was home at the time of the shooting.
The Joplin Globe reports Copeland said the children were in a bedroom where they had access to a loaded handgun but he could not say what happened.
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