Boy, 8, dies after shooting himself with gun left in mum’s car while she shopped

An eight-year-old boy has died after accidentally shooting himself with a loaded gun left in a car, as his mother was shopping.

The boy was alone in the car in Lehi, Utah, on Monday, when he was said to have found the loaded gun underneath a seat.

He accidentally shot himself in the head, Lehi City Police Department told local media.

He later died in hospital on Tuesday morning.

The shooting appeared to be “unintentional and self-inflicted” police said in a statement.

They added that no charges were pending against the mother, but the shooting was still under investigation.

It took place outside a Maverik store, along Thanksgiving Way, according to KSL-TV.

‘He shot himself’

Doug Shields was refuelling his car when he heard a gunshot and a woman screaming.

He told KSL-TV that he went to the car where it took place and heard the mum say the boy had found the gun under the seat.

“She goes: ‘He shot himself, he shot himself, he shot himself,'” Mr Shields said.

“And I first thought suicide, and she goes: ‘He found the gun under my seat and pulled the trigger.’ It apparently was an accident. It was a total accident,” he added.

Monday’s shooting happened less than two weeks after a five-year-old boy, also in Utah, died under similar circumstances at his family’s home in Santaquin.

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Utah does not have any laws to prosecute those failing to secure an unattended firearm, according to the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence.

The state also has no laws requiring unattended firearms to be stored in certain ways.