5-Year-Old Finds Gun in Nightstand, Fatally Shoots Self

Police in Anchorage, Alaska, say a 5-year-old boy rummaging through a nightstand drawer late at night found a loaded gun and wound up fatally shooting himself, reports KTUU. Christian Johnnson died after midnight Tuesday while his parents were in other rooms of the house, reports the Anchorage Daily News. The mother heard a gunshot, and "she walks into the bedroom and that's when she finds her son, who shot himself," says a police spokesman.

It is, he adds, "a tragic reminder about gun safety and children." Police have found no evidence that drugs or alcohol played any role in the shooting, and the Anchorage District Attorney's Office has yet to decide whether any charges will be filed. (A study finds that half of US children live in homes with guns, highlighting police concerns about making sure the weapons are safely secured.)