6-Year-Old Boy Accidentally Shoots, Kills His 5-Year-Old Sister After Finding Gun At Home

A six-year-old boy reportedly accidentally shot and killed his five-year-old sister after finding an unattended gun at their house in Muncie, Indiana on Tuesday, July 26.

Officers responded to the residence on Tuesday, July 26, after they received a report of a shooting incident at a location in the 2800 block of Monroe Street in Muncie. At the home, the police found a 5-year-old girl with a severe gunshot wound.

A preliminary investigation revealed that the 5-year-old girl was allegedly shot by her 6-year-old male sibling after the boy retrieved the gun from inside a safe in the home while his mother Kimberly Grayson, 27, was taking a nap.

The safe reportedly contained two handguns and the key needed to open it had apparently been left in its keyhole. The boy saw this, opened the safe, retrieved one of the guns, and “accidentally shot his sister while playing with the gun,” WRTV Indianapolis reported.

Officers with the Muncie Police Department and other first responders blocked intersections across the city and immediately rushed the victim to IU Health Ball Memorial Hospital for immediate treatment. However, the hospital authorities pronounced the girl dead upon arrival.

Following the incident, the child's mother Kimberly, and her 28-year-old father, Jacob Grayson, were arrested for neglect of a dependent resulting in death, a level 1 felony, and multiple neglect of a dependent charges, Level 6 felonies.

However, Jacob was later released from the Delaware County jail after posting a US$65,000 bond. Meanwhile, Kimberly remains in jail under the same bond, Yahoo News reported.

According to the children's parents, the boy had opened the safe several times before. However, Jacob dealt with the situation by moving the safe to a different location on a dresser. The parents also revealed that they had recently taken the boy to a shooting range and tried to teach him how to fire a handgun.

The officers revealed that the living conditions in the couple's South Monroe Street home were “deplorable,” with “food, trash, animal feces and furniture strewn throughout the house.” They added that there was also feces smeared on the walls of the residence and the children's beds appeared to be stained mattresses on a floor with no sheets and blankets.