MINNEAPOLIS — A 10-year-old boy was fatally shot in a downtown Minneapolis apartment building late Friday night, according to police.
Officers from the First Precinct responded around 11:35 p.m. to a report of a shooting inside the building, according to the Minneapolis Police Department. They found a 10-year-old boy with what appeared to be a life-threatening gunshot wound and provided medical care including CPR.
The child was taken to a hospital, where he died.
Preliminary information indicates the child and a juvenile family member were alone in the apartment when the shooting occurred, police said. They have not released the age of the other family member.
"We're just trying to investigate to find out what took place there," police spokesman Garrett Parten said Saturday. He said the boy's parents are cooperating in the investigation.
"What we know is we had two juveniles in a residence alone with access to a gun, and that's just a bad recipe," Parten said. "Whatever measures gun owners can take to secure their weapons at all times, it's so crucial."
According to two sources with knowledge of the investigation, the shooting is thought to be accidental. The sources said the other juvenile present in the room was the shooting victim's older brother.
"The determination will be made at least by Monday, I'm guessing, as to ... whether anybody is negligent or needs to be held responsible — who that is, what that looks like," Parten said.
The Hennepin County Medical Examiner's Office will release the boy's name along with the cause and nature of the death after an autopsy is performed.
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(Staff writer Liz Sawyer contributed to this report.)
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