A four-year-old Louisiana boy fatally shot himself in the head in a parked car while his mother and her adult friend smoked weed in the front seat.
Jarion Walker was killed while sitting in the car with his two younger siblings and two adults, NOLA reports. The local Louisiana Sheriff’s Office said the two adults were smoking marijuana in the front seat when a firearm was discharged inside the vehicle.
The shooting happened around 10:45 p.m. Saturday in the city of Westwego, a suburb of New Orleans, Louisiana. Walker was taken to the hospital, where he died from his injuries. An autopsy determined that toddler died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the front of the head.
The other two children in the backseat were a 1-year-old, and a 22-month-old, who police determined were too young to have fired the weapon. Eventually, Walker’s mother admitted that she smoked marijuana with a friend in the front seat when the firearm was discharged.
According to The Independent, Walker was playing with his father’s gun and fatally shot himself in the forehead. Authorities believe the boy located the weapon under the seat. However, the two adults say there were not aware the gun was in the car and that the boy had accessed it until they heard a gunshot.
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“These kinds of deaths can certainly be prevented,” Jefferson Parish Sheriff Joseph Lopinto said. “Gun safety is apparent, and we should never leave a gun inside a vehicle for various reasons, this one being one of the most tragic reasons.”
Authorities have not yet made an arrest. They said they did not feel it was appropriate to make any arrests at this time.
“They just lost a child, it certainly wasn’t intentional by any means. When we collect all the evidence, we’ll see where it goes,” Lopinto added.
Rest in peace, Jairon Walker, gone too soon from this tragic incident.