A 7-year-old boy playing video games was struck by a stray bullet on Saturday night, according to local police.
The boy, who has not been identified by law enforcement, was playing inside his home in Philadelphia’s Germantown neighborhood at about 9:41 p.m. when the shooting occurred, local television news station WPVI-TV reported. It is the latest instance of a child accidentally being hit by a bullet, which occurs from time-to-time in the United States.
A bullet, fired from somewhere outside of the home, entered the house and struck the boy in his leg, the news station reported. He was then taken to a local hospital and was in stable condition.
His mother was the only other person inside the home at the time, and was not injured in the shooting, WPVI reported.
Above, police tape is seen in Sacramento, California, on February 28. A 7-year-old playing video games in his Philadelphia home was struck by a stray bullet Saturday night, police said.
ANDRI TAMBUNAN/AFP via Getty Images
In total, there were four bullet holes inside the home, according to WPVI.
Officers took into custody a 17-year-old, who was not identified, with a loaded gun. However, they do not believe that he was the shooter, according to WPVI. No information about the suspect was released to the public and police had not announced any other arrest by Sunday morning.
The boy was in the second floor of the home when the shooting occurred, and police do not believe he or his mother were the intended targets, according to local news station KYW-TV.
More information about the shooting, including who may have been the intended target or any motive, remained unknown on Sunday.
Newsweek reached out to the Philadelphia Police Department for comment.
Stray Bullets Injure Children as Gun Violence Soars in U.S.
As gun violence in the U.S. remains a major issue faced by many Americans, children at times have unfortunately been accidentally struck by stray bullets—with these shootings, at times, being fatal.
A 9-year-old girl was struck by a stray bullet during an ATM robbery in Houston in February. A man allegedly robbed a second man who was withdrawing money from an ATM. After the robbery, the man who was robbed, allegedly opened fire at the robber, but one of the bullets instead hit the child, who was taken to a nearby hospital in critical condition.
In March, a 7-year-old girl who was playing on a scooter outside of her grandmother’s house in Hempstead, New York, was also injured after being hit by a stray bullet. The suspected shooter allegedly shot into a crowd of people standing on a street corner, but accidentally struck the girl, who was released from a local hospital after being treated.
In May, an 11-year-old girl was killed after being struck by a stray bullet during a bungled drive-by shooting in New York City’s Bronx borough. The suspected shooters were intending to kill a man, but a stray bullet hit the child in the abdomen.
Source: https://www.newsweek.com/boy-7-playing-video-games-home-struck-stray-bullet-police-1735459
