A heartbreaking incident in Newark, New Jersey, has left a 3-year-old boy fighting for his life after accidentally shooting himself with a firearm. The tragic event occurred on Thursday, August 15, 2024, at approximately 5:47 p.m., inside a home on Wainwright Street near Bragaw Avenue.
Newark Police Department responded swiftly to the emergency call, and upon arrival, officers found the young boy in critical condition. Newark Public Safety Director Fritz Frage confirmed that the child was discovered with two other children, who were unharmed. The boy was immediately rushed to University Hospital, where he remains in critical condition.
“A firearm was recovered at the scene. The shooting appears to have been accidental and self-inflicted,” the Newark Police Department told People in a statement. While the investigation is ongoing, the circumstances suggest that a momentary lapse in gun safety led to devastating consequences.
Surveillance footage from a local corner store, obtained by WABC-TV, revealed the moments following the shooting. The child’s older brother, visibly distraught and covered in blood, rushed into the store seeking help. The store manager described the terrifying moment, recounting how the boy pleaded for assistance, saying his younger brother could not breathe. “Boss, there’s a little boy rolling around in blood,” the boy reportedly told the store’s clerk, who then hurried back to the house with him. The clerk quickly returned to the store and informed the manager, who immediately called 911.
Local residents, shaken by the incident, expressed their fear and concern. Edith Frinpong, a mother of two living nearby, shared her worries in an interview with WABC. “I’m scared myself because we were here, but we didn’t know what was happening, but we saw all the cops and everything,” she said. Frinpong’s sentiments echoed those of many in the neighborhood who are now questioning the presence of unsecured firearms in homes with young children. “We should be careful to put weapons in our homes … in a safe place,” she added.
In response to the tragedy, the Newark Department of Public Safety issued a public advisory on their Facebook page, urging gun owners to take extra precautions when storing firearms. The advisory emphasized the importance of keeping guns “unloaded and locked up” in storage, securing ammunition separately, considering the use of gun locks, and hiding keys or passcodes to gun safes. “You cannot be too careful about where and how you secure a firearm, especially in homes or other locations where children may be present,” the department warned, citing the “self-inflicted shooting of a child” as a tragic example of what can happen when these precautions are not observed.
This devastating incident in Newark is not isolated. Just months earlier, a similar tragedy occurred in Charlotte, North Carolina, where another 3-year-old boy accidentally shot himself with his mother’s unsecured gun. Despite being rushed to a local hospital with life-threatening injuries, the child was pronounced dead shortly after arrival. In response to that incident, Major Bret Balamucki emphasized the importance of gun safety in homes with children, saying, “A tragedy like this should wake us all up on understanding the importance of the responsibility we all have.”
The Newark community now faces the painful reality of this tragic accident, underscoring the urgent need for responsible gun ownership and the careful storage of firearms to prevent such heart-wrenching incidents.