LEIMERT PARK (CNS) - A 5-year-old boy was killed Wednesday when he apparently found a gun that went off in his hands inside a Leimert Park home.
Los Angeles police responded at 1:15 p.m. to reports of a shooting in the home in the 2000 block of Van Ness Avenue, and the child was found inside.
``Initially it appears to be a self-inflicted'' gunshot, an LAPD official told City News Service.
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NBC4 reported from the scene that the child and three siblings were inside the home with a woman, believed to be the boy's adoptive mother, when the shooting occurred. No other injuries were reported.
LAPD Cmdr. Alfred Labrada told the station there does not appear to be any evidence of the bullet being fired into the home from the outside.
``We don't have any reason to believe there's any danger to the surrounding community,'' he said. ``We don't have any information there is a round that was fired into the residence at this point. We are looking at that as a possibility, but we don't see that as having occurred at this residence.''
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He said a gun was found inside the home and it ``is a possibility'' that the child discovered the weapon and it discharged.
A man claiming to be the boy's grandfather told Channel 4 his son works as an armed security guard, so the weapon may have belonged to him.
