A 29-year-old woman was shopping with several children in a Idaho Walmart when her 2-year-old son grabbed a handgun concealed in her purse and discharged it، authorities said.
The woman، identified by a sheriff’s spokesman as Veronica J. Rutledge، of Blackfoot، Idaho. She died at the scene.
According to police، the boy was seated in a shopping cart when he reached into his mother’s purse at a Walmart store، accessed the concealed gun and fired.
Rutledge did have a concealed weapons permit، CBS affiliate KREM-TV reported.
Officials confirmed to the Associated Press and the local CBS affiliate that the boy was the 29-year-old woman’s son.
Video surveillance footage and eyewitness accounts helped authorities determine that the shooting was accidental.
The Walmart was evacuated and closed after the shooting، and the store’s manager says it will reopen on Wednesday. They responded to the tragic shooting in a statement released as a “very sad incident”.
Similar accidents occurred in the neighboring Washington state، when a 3-year-old boy was seriously injured in November when he was accidentally shot in the face by a 4-year-old neighbor. The boy was wounded as the children played in a home in Lake Stevens، about 30 miles north of Seattle.
In April، a 2-year-old boy apparently shot and killed his 11-year-old sister while they and their siblings played with a gun inside a Philadelphia home. Authorities said the gun was believed to have been brought into the home by the mother’s boyfriend.
There do not appear to be reliable national statistics about the number of accidental fatalities involving children handling guns.