A 4-year-old boy died after being shot early Friday afternoon at an apartment in Little Rock, a police spokesman said.
The shooting, which happened around 12:15 p.m. at a complex in the 2100 block of Labette Manor Drive, west of John Barrow Road, appears to be an accident, police spokesman Eric Barnes said.
Barnes said when officers arrived on scene, they found a child that had been severely injured by a gunshot wound inside an apartment in the G building. Whether the gunshot was self-inflicted or if another person in the apartment pulled the trigger was not immediately clear, Barnes said.
Homicide detectives and a crime scene unit were on scene at the apartment, and Barnes said though officers believe the shooting to be accidental, investigators wanted to preserve the scene long enough to make a clear determination.
Multiple residents were gathered outside as police moved around the apartment complex. Many were asking one another what happened and waiting for police officers to give an update on the child's condition. One woman, when she learned that the child had died, covered her face with her hands and wept.
LaVern Foster, who lives nearby and was on her patio when the shooting happened, said she didn't hear a gunshot but did hear someone scream "A baby's been shot."
Foster said she ran to the apartment to see what was going on, but when she turned the corner and saw the mother standing over her bleeding child, she knew there was nothing she could do.
"I just hit my knees and started praying," Foster said. "I knew there wasn't anything else to do."