3 Accidental Involvement's

4-YEAR-OLD BOY FATALLY SHOOTS BROTHER

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas, 7-year-old boy died from an accidental shooting by his 4-year-old brother.

Charles Lee was killed Wednesday when his little brother began playing with a gun and shot him in the face.

Police today are considering whether to file charges against the mother for leaving the gun accessible to a minor, which is a crime in Texas.

The shooting occurred in the morning before the mother awoke, while the children were preparing for school.

Torres says the younger boy had the gun behind his back, ``and when Charlie asked him what he had, the boy brought it around to show him and it went off. I think it hit him around the chin or just below the chin.''

January 30, 1998

CHICAGO -- An 8-year-old Lawndale girl who found a handgun in the apartment of her baby-sitter accidentally shot herself to death Thursday, police said.

The girl, Nicole Ellis of the 900 block of South Mayfield Avenue, died of a gunshot wound to the head.

She was found dead in the third-floor apartment in the 4300 block of West 18th Street shortly after 6:30 p.m., said Harrison Area Sgt. Michael Chasen.

Chasen said Nicole and her 10-year-old brother were staying at the apartment under the supervision of a 16-year-old baby-sitter.

Two adult relatives of the baby-sitter were also present, Chasen said. The adults were working in the bathroom when they heard a gunshot in a bedroom, he said.

Nicole shot herself in the head with a .38-caliber revolver that apparently belonged to someone living in the apartment, Chasen said.

Police were trying to determine who owned the unregistered gun and how the girl got it, he said.

Police have classified the shooting as accidental.