The 1-year-old was transported to the hospital for treatment.
At 4:56 p.m., the deputies responded to the hospital for an investigation into how the child was injured.
A preliminary investigation revealed the child was unattended while the adults were sleeping, according to the sheriff’s office.
“While (the adults) slept, the child accessed a firearm and sustained a life-threatening gunshot wound,” a press release read.
There were two adults at the apartment at the time, according to the sheriff’s office.
The Special Investigations Unit is continuing to investigate.
At a minimum, a person who stores a firearm where a child is able to get ahold of it could be charged with endangering children, a spokesperson for the Montgomery County Prosecutor’s Office said. If the child shoots and kills someone, the gun owner could be charged with reckless homicide and involuntary manslaughter.
There have been at least four cases of children shooting themselves after accessing a gun in the last four years in Montgomery County.
A 2-year-old Dayton boy, Amorie Jetton Bell, died in June 2022 at Dayton Children’s Hospital after he reportedly shot himself.
A woman who identified herself as his aunt called 911 and said he shot himself with a gun that had been on the floor, according to Montgomery County Regional Dispatch Center records.
In June 2021, Allysa Howard was sentenced to up to five years of probation after pleading guilty to one count of endangering children. The charge stemmed from an incident on March 6, 2021, when her 2-year-old son shot and wounded himself in Harrison Twp.
A 911 caller found the boy in an upstairs hallway shot in the chest, according to Vandalia Municipal Court records. A Taurus .380 caliber model LCL was reportedly recovered from the bedroom where Howard and her son were sleeping.
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