Boy, 3, Shoots Self In Head; Teen Sibling Charged: Philly Authorities

PHILADELPHIA — A minor is facing charges after their 3-year-old brother was shot in the head and critically injured Wednesday night in a South Philadelphia home, authorities said.

The victim was shot around 11:15 p.m. at his home on the 2100 block of South 26th Street. Preliminary investigation indicates the boy shot himself in a second-floor bedroom.

He was driven to Children's Hospital of Philadelphia in a private vehicle and remains in critical condition as of Thursday afternoon.

Authorities did not say how the shooting unfolded or how the victim may have accessed the gun.

A 17-year-old old sibling is in custody, officials said Thursday afternoon at a news conference. The teen was charged with a felony weapon offense, recklessly endangering another person, obstruction of justice and tampering with evidence.

The teen is facing another charge for ineligibility to have a gun, since they were on juvenile supervision for another firearm offense, said Assistant District Attorney Anthony Voci.

When police responded to the shooting, the gun was nowhere to be found. The weapon remains missing, officials said Thursday afternoon at a news conference.

"There was a second gun in that room in a shoebox, and it was a ghost gun that was inoperable," Voci said, "which led us to the conclusion that that wasn’t the gun that committed this crime and the actual gun is missing."

Finding the weapon will be central to the case, said Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner.

The mother was at home during the shooting, but she has not been charged, officials said.

Krasner urged parents to be vigilant in ensuring their children don't bring guns home.

"I know parents cannot control everything their kids do," Krasner said. "They have no such capacity, but they ought to try. That means building trust with those kids in any way you can. That means keeping an eye on those kids any way you can, and that means trying to do whatever you can to prevent a horrific tragedy such as this one."

The investigation is ongoing.