Police: 2-year-old in Fresno dies from self-inflicted gunshot wound

ByVanessa Vasconcelos and Taylor Kimber KFSN logo
Sunday, July 8, 2018
Two-year-old dies from self-inflicted gunshot wound
Neighbors watched as a two-year-old boy was loaded into the back of an ambulance in a northwest Fresno neighborhood.

FRESNO, Calif. -- A community in disbelief after learning a toddler was able to get his hands on a firearm and shoot himself.

As crime scene tape surrounds the house at Audubon Drive at Churchill it is not only detectives looking for answers.

"That really that really bothered me I have grandkids and you just think I would not want this to happen," said neighbor Wendy Kulterman.

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Wendy Culterman lives feet away from the tragedy.

She says the family living there, moved in roughly six months ago, and typically keep to themselves but on occasion, she could hear children playing.

A two-year-old is in the hospital, after shooting his or herself in the head at a home in Northwest Fresno Saturday afternoon.

"The only thing we know about them is this tragedy and that's the closest we're getting to them. It's awful," said Kulterman.

Saturday afternoon when police were called to the home for reports of a gunshot victim.

"At the time that this occurred, there were two adults inside the home with the child. Neither of them are the child's parents," said Fresno Police Rob Beck.

According to police, the toddler was in one of the bedrooms of the home when he accidentally shot himself in the head.

Police say the parents have been notified but now all are trying to determine how the child was able to get his hands on a pistol.

It is unclear whether the gun belongs to the homeowners or the family friends who were in the home, but police say this serves as a lesson in the importance of practicing gun safety.

"You're required to, if you have firearms in the home, they need to be locked and out of reach of children," said Beck.