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3-year-old dead after accidental shooting in southwest Las Vegas

Updated August 1, 2017 - 9:25 pm

A 3-year-old boy died Tuesday afternoon in the southwest valley after a fatal shooting that reportedly was accidental.

The shooting happened just before 2 p.m. on Chandler Springs Avenue, Las Vegas police spokeswoman Laura Meltzer said. The boy was taken to University Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead about 2:45 p.m., Metropolitan Police Department spokesman Larry Hadfield said.

Lt. Grant Rogers said Tuesday night that it’s unclear how the child was shot. He added that a 7-year-old and the children’s father were home at the time of the shooting.

Additional details about how the incident occurred, including who shot the child, were not immediately available.

“As parents, it’s very, very important to stow your firearms in a safe way,” Hadfield said. “It doesn’t matter how old your kids are. It doesn’t matter where your kids are. (Firearms) need to be locked up at all time so that tragedies like this do not happen in our community.”

Metro’s homicide investigators and abuse and neglect section continue to investigate.

Contact Bianca Cseke at bcseke@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0381. Follow @biancacseke1 on Twitter.

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