A Missouri toddler died after shooting himself in the head with a gun he found inside his family's home.

The St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department said an investigation is underway after the young child shot himself. According to KSDK News, the police department received a call for a shooting in the 900 block of Melvin Drive in St. Louis City at around 1 p.m. Wednesday. 

Investigators noted that a one-year-old boy shot himself in the head. When police arrived at the scene, the Missouri toddler was barely conscious or breathing and was taken to a hospital by emergency responders.

Interim chief of the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department Michael Sack said the child had died. Police on Thursday identified the Missouri toddler as Khori Patterson.

Sack said they still do not have information on how the child accessed the gun or what happened that led to the shooting incident. The interim chief noted that this was "a terrible tragedy" for the family mourning the death of the boy, according to Crime Online.

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Missouri Toddler Dies After Shooting Himself

Michael Sack said his officers' actions were faster than waiting for the paramedics to arrive. Fox 2 Now reported that the officers scooped up the toddler, placed him in their patrol car, and raced to the St. Louis Children's Hospital.

Police started interviewing family members at the hospital and probing the circumstances that led to the shooting. As of now, it is not clear if the police will file charges.

Sack called on parents and any guardian of a child with a firearm in their home to safely put it away from the child so that they cannot access it or, better yet, to use a gun lock.

The interim chief noted that guns are "inherently dangerous," adding that there are a "number of them" in their community. He said if a person is to own a firearm or operate a motor vehicle, they should use a gun lock and a child safety seat.

Sack noted that it was "just common sense." He said it was "terrible" that sometimes children had to "pay the price for parents' poor choice."

Missouri Toddler's Death Mourned

The Missouri toddler's grandfather, Lee Little, said his grandson loved animals, "eating ice cubes and running up and down the neighborhood street."

Little told the St. Louis Post Dispatch that Khori Patterson refused to get in his stroller as they went from house to house in his neighborhood in Bellefontaine Neighbors.

The mourning grandfather said that the walks in his neighborhood were his way of teaching his grandson about birds, flowers, dogs, and squirrels. He added that his grandson was a wonderful child and "he was going to be a wonderful person one day."

Little babysat the Missouri toddler most days of the week while his daughter worked at the St. Louis Lambert International Airport. Patterson's mother was a single mom and stepped up and did a wonderful job as a mother.

Little said her daughter, a friend, and the Missouri toddler were asleep before the shooting. He noted that the friend had a gun and left it on the TV stand.

He said his grandson woke up first and got the gun and went into his room. Little noted that her daughter's friend, the man who brought the firearm over to the home, left the house with the gun before the police arrived. 

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This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Mary Webber

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