5-year-old Missouri boy fatally shoots 9-month-old brother

ELMO, Mo. (AP) — A 9-month-old northwestern Missouri boy is dead after his 5-year-old brother playing with a handgun accidentally shot him in the head.

Nodaway County Sheriff Darren White says the baby was pronounced dead at Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City just before noon on Monday.

The Kansas City Star reports that emergency responders were called to a home in Elmo around 9 a.m. Monday after a 5-year-old found a loaded .22 caliber handgun and apparently was handling it when it fired.

White says the bullet struck the 9-month-old, who was in a playpen.

The sheriff says there is no reason to believe the shooting was anything other than an accident.

Elmo is located 120 miles north of Kansas City, Missouri.