Illinois 3-year-old dies after shooting himself in the face at his house in 'accidental incident'

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS:  A three-year-old boy died after he shot himself in the head in what the police described as an "accidental incident."

Area South Detectives responded to a residence at the 9600 block of South Escanaba Avenue in the South Deering neighborhood at around 4:15 pm on Sunday, July 28, according to a tweet by Chicago Police Chief Communications Officer Anthony Guglielmi. 

The victim, three-year-old Mikah Davis, had been critically injured after he had found a loaded gun in the home and shot himself in the head; he was rushed to the Advocate Trinity Hospital for treatment.

However, he succumbed to his injuries at the hospital and was pronounced dead, reported the Chicago Tribune. 

Mikah's family told police that they heard a gunshot from another room and that when they went to check, they found the three-year-old with the gun.

Yellow tape was tied across three houses on Escanaba, with none of the neighbors hearing any gunshots around the time incident unfolded. Some offered to let detectives check their security camera footage in the hope it would offer any leads,

Lizbeth Munoz, 16, said she saw a woman and man run out of the red-brick, two-story apartment a few houses down carrying what appeared to be an unconscious child to a car before driving off.

But like most, she's still waiting for more information about the tragedy. "It's just mind-blowing," she said. "Nothing like that ever happens around here."

According to the Chicago Tribune, John Sandoval, a 63-year-old retired police officer, showed up at the scene as a member of the community watch group to make sure he could collect facts and reassure the rest of the neighborhood that there was no threat to safety.

Sandoval urged that gun owners be more responsible about their firearms, especially if they have children. "If there's children around, they don't know nothing about if I have a gun or not," he said. "They don't need to know." 

Kyleanne Hunter, the vice president of The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, told ABC News that cases like these "unfortunately isn't rare at all." Citing a multi-year average compiled by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, she said that a child unintentionally shoots themselves or another child eight times every day.

She also echoed Sandoval's view of responsible gun ownership. "The most important thing that parents can do is if they choose to bring a gun into the home is to store it safely," she said. "And what we know from research is the most safe way is unloaded, locked, and with the ammunition stored separately.

Detectives from the Chicago Police Department are still investigating the incident, with the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services "called in to assist."

As of now, no arrests have been made in connection to Mikah's death.