SALT LAKE CITY — Two Utah children accidentally shot themselves in the head in unrelated incidents Thursday, both miraculously surviving.
A 9-year-old Brigham City boy was hospitalized a little after 5 p.m. after accidentally shooting himself in the head, police confirmed. Additional details about how the boy got the gun or what he was doing with it were not immediately released.
The boy was first transported to a local hospital before being transferred to Salt Lake City’s Primary Children’s Hospital in stable condition.
Earlier in the day in Murray, a 3-year-old boy suffered a gunshot wound to his head after police say he found a gun in the house and played with it while his parents were still in bed.
Amazingly, however, Murray police detective Kenny Bass said the boy’s injury is not considered to be life-threatening and the child was in stable condition.
About 6:30 a.m., a family member brought the boy to Intermountain Medical Center where the victim was then flown to Primary Children's Hospital, Bass said. The family lives about a mile from the hospital.
Police were called and started an investigation at the boy’s house.
Based on the investigation by detectives, Bass said police believe the 3-year-old was awake before his parents and another sibling, and used a chair to reach a handgun that was sitting on a kitchen cabinet. The boy accidentally shot himself while playing with the weapon.
