UPDATE: Unsecured firearm leads to shooting death of three-year-old boy in Struthers
Struthers police responded to a home on the 400 Block of Spring Street Friday afternoon for a three-year-old child who was shot in the head. Police say the child was shot after getting hold of an unsecured firearm.
The male child succumbed to the wound, according to Struthers police.
"There was an unsecured firearm in a home and the worst possible thing happened and a child got a hold of it," said DJ Aldish, Struthers police Captain and acting chief.
Following the shooting, a passerby started to drive the child with a parent to the hospital, but stopped at a plaza at the corner of Mathews Road and South Avenue, where Boardman police and fire crews soon responded.
"From the path to travel from here, it seems like they were on the route to Saint E's Boardman when paramedics arrived on South and Matthews Road. A[n] Ambulance, not sure what ambulance company, transported the child to Saint E's main," said Aldish. "We didn’t know if it was Boardman's [call] , we didn’t know if it was ours."
Crime scene tape has been placed at the home, as well as in the plaza near Dollar General.
A viewer who was near the plaza told 21 News they saw medical personnel helping someone on the ground.
The coroner has since confirmed that the child has died.
Struthers Police tell 21 News that the Mahoning County Sheriff's Department is handling the investigation into the death of the child.
