*It was meant to be a day of visiting relatives and shopping. But it turned into a fatal event when a 2-year-old boy found his mother’s gun after reaching into her purse at a Walmart store in northern Idaho and the concealed weapon went off, according to authorities in a statement onTuesday.
Kootenai County sheriff’s spokesman Stu Miller told The Associated Press the woman was shopping with her son and three other children.
We don’t know the identity of the woman, but she did have a concealed weapons permit. According to Miller the child had been left sitting in a shopping cart and reached into his mother’s purse and grabbed the small caliber handgun, which discharged one time.
“It appears to be a pretty tragic accident,” Miller said.
The woman’s husband was not in the store at the time of the shooting – which occurred around 10:20 a.m., but he did arrive shortly thereafter. The children were taken to a relative’s house.
The store closed and was not expected to reopen until Wednesday morning.
Brooke Buchanan, a spokeswoman for Wal-Mart, said in a statement the shooting was a “very sad and tragic accident.”
“We are working closely with the local sheriff’s department while they investigate what happened,” Buchanan said.
About Post Author
