Illinois girl, 12, dies after accidentally shooting herself while playing with mum's gun

Priscilla McCullough, 12, died aft accidentally shooting herself portion playing with her mother's gun. She was recovered bleeding connected the level by her 11-year-old sister

A 12-year-old miss has tragically died aft accidentally shooting herself successful the stomach.

Priscilla McCullough was playing with her mother's firearm astatine the household location successful South Shore, Chicago, Illinois, erstwhile it discharged, hitting her successful the abdomen astatine astir 6.50pm connected Sunday. Her 11-year-old sister, who was eating successful the kitchen, went to cheque connected Priscilla and recovered her bleeding connected the floor.

The sister took the weapon to their mum, who was reportedly bathing her one-year-old successful the bathroom. At that point, the kid asked her mum: "Is this real?" According to police, the distraught girl's mum, 42, told them she had tried to stem the bleeding and told her younger girl to telephone 911.

Priscilla was taken to Comer Children's Hospital successful captious condition, but was sadly pronounced dormant astatine 7.24pm, according to the aesculapian examiner's office. An autopsy was carried out, but it was inconclusive. According to reports, the mum told officers that her weapon was usually kept successful a locked harmless successful a bedroom.

According to John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, weapon deaths stay the starring origin of decease for children and teens with radical of colour disproportionately affected. The contented of weapon ownership and regularisation remains a highly partisan contented and arsenic debates proceed to rage, children proceed to die. On July 25, US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy declared firearm unit a nationalist wellness crisis.

In his archetypal word arsenic president, Donald Trump loosened restrictions connected who tin bargain guns by narrowing the explanation of "fugitive from justice" that is utilized to find who is barred from buying a weapon and purging 500,000 records from the national inheritance cheque system. But contempt the bleak headlines astir gun-related incidents, particularly successful cities similar Chicago, determination are immoderate reasons for hope.

In the past 12 months determination were 2,820 weapon unit victims reported successful the Windy City - a 4 per cent alteration from past twelvemonth and a 20 per cent alteration from the mean implicit the past 5 years (2019 done 2023). Last week, a nine-year-old lad was reportedly killed by his ain stepfather successful a shocking shooting that near constabulary officers astatine the country shaken.

Police officers from the Lake Geneva Police Department were called to the country of a reported shooting astatine a residence successful the aboriginal hours of Monday morning. According to WSAZ.com, officers astatine the country swiftly arrested Steven Merkel Jr, 52, and charged with first-degree reckless homicide earlier booking him into the Walworth County jail.

Sadly, contempt the champion efforts of exigency aesculapian teams, the victim, identified arsenic Michael Meagher from Wisconsin, died aft being transported to a section hospital. Merkel was the boy's stepdad and lived astatine the code connected Lincoln Avenue wherever the shooting occurred.