GALION, Ohio — A 4-year-old boy in the Crawford County city of Galion died Tuesday after shooting himself in the face with a gun he found in his grandmother’s home, according to Galion Police Chief Marc Rodriguez.
Galion police officers were called to the Avita Health System hospital in Galion just before 8:40 p.m. on Tuesday after the boy’s father drove him there.
The boy was flown to Nationwide Children's Hospital, but the chief says he died mid-flight.
“It’s a very tragic incident,” Chief Rodriguez told 10TV. “The officers that were on scene, I mean, our hearts are broken over it. You know, this doesn’t just affect the family; it affects us as well when we have to go there and deal with that. One of my lieutenants who was on scene was with the child and held his hand as he lay there, trying to comfort him as best as he could, and obviously our dispatcher was affected by it as well, so it doesn’t just affect the family, it affects all of us that have to deal with this, especially when it’s a child.”
The chief said the family had just moved to town about a week ago and was staying with the boy’s grandmother. The gun, which was a Ruger LCP II .22 caliber semi-automatic pistol, was unsecured and up on a shelf out of the child’s reach, but he still managed to get ahold of it.
Chief Rodriguez says free gun locks are available at the police department for anyone who wants one.
“We have gun locks that are available to the public for free, there’s no charge for it,” he said. “Something as simple as a small cable lock can prevent and save a life, it can prevent a tragedy like this from happening.”
Police recovered the gun and a shell casing from the home and sent them to the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation for further testing.
The case remains under investigation, and the police said the Crawford County Prosecutor's Office has been notified of the incident.
Chief Rodriguez added that two local pastors, Pastor Rick Maddox, from Galion Alliance Church, and Pastor Ash Welch, from Saint Paul United Methodist Church, were on hand to help the family Tuesday night.
Resources also are available for his officers, including via the Law Enforcement Assistance Program, or LEAP.