A 5-year-old boy from Chicago was shot on Tuesday for the second time in about 18 months.
Kavan Collins was taken to Comer Children’s Hospital in good condition after accidentally shooting himself in the hand earlier this week, the Chicago Tribune reported.
Collins’ father is suspected of owning the gun illegally and may face felony charges related to the incident, police said.
Kavan Collins, 5, was taken to Comer Children’s Hospital in good condition after accidentally shooting himself in the hand on Tuesday; Collins is seen here standing on his father’s front porch in July 2016, a few weeks after being hit in the jaw with a bullet
Collins received treatment at the same hospital in June 2016, after being struck in the jaw by a bullet while walking in Chicago’s South Side.
Previously, the child was walking in the Parkway Gardens neighborhood of Chicago on June 28, 2016 when he and his family heard fireworks followed by gunshots, police said.
Bullets flew through the 6400 block of South King Drive where he was walking with his mother, brother and a family friend, and one hit the boy, fracturing his jaw.
Another bullet hit a woman, 28, in the head, after crashing through a window and a wall. The woman was taken to Stroger Hospital in good condition.
Collins shot himself in the hand after finding a gun in a bedroom, police said; his father may face charges related to the gun and child endangerment, police said
Neither Collins nor the woman were the targets of the shots at that time, police said.
The intended target was a group of individuals standing together in a nearby courtyard, police said.
This time, the boy shot himself in the hand after finding a gun in a bedroom, police said.
Collins was holding the gun when it discharged at about 6.20 pm Central in the 8100 block of South Coles Avenue.
Police suspect Collins’ father obtained the weapon illegally.
The father is being questioned about the weapon by detectives, Chicago Police Department spokesperson Anthony Guglielmi told the New York Post.
The gun in question was not registered and had its serial number defaced, police said.
Guglielmi expects the father to be charged with felony crimes related to the gun and child endangerment.
The father’s name has not been released by police at this time.