Lexington 9 Year Old Dies After Accidental Shooting

This from H-L:

Child accidentally shoots himself with handgun

A 9-year-old boy who accidentally shot himself in the head at a home on Folkstone Drive, near Alumni Drive and New Circle Road, died Tuesday afternoon.

TaShawn Watson was pronounced dead at the University of Kentucky Hospital at 4:49 p.m., according to the Fayette County coroner's office.

Police were called at 4:15 p.m. to 592 Folkstone Drive about an accidental shooting. When officers arrived, they found the boy in the basement with a single gunshot wound, said Lt. Scott Blakely of the Lexington police.

Blakely said the child's mother had been upstairs, and two children were playing in the basement when they apparently found the father's handgun.

"The gun went off while they were playing with it," Blakely said. "It appears to be a very tragic accident."

This from WLEX:

News of the tragedy left the otherwise quiet neighborhood shaken."I'm grieving for the family and I just want to let them know that we're here for them," said Julie Scalos, whose son Nicholas rode the bus home with Cassidy 3rd grader TaShawn Watson every day."Any other day he would have walked home with them. Sometimes he stops in there to play. It just so happens that we had somewhere to go tonight. So I made him come straight home from the bus stop. But any other day, he could have been over there playing. It's just really scary," she said...

Police say TaShawn's mother called 911 just after four o'clock Tuesday afternoon to report the nine year old had been accidentally shot in the head. Police say TaShawn and another boy were playing in the basement. They found a gun in the garage, and it fired."I talked to his mother a little while ago," said neighbor Delores Sorrell. "Her hand was real bloody and I asked her if she had been shot. She said, 'it was my son' and then she sat down on the sidewalk and started crying. I felt real bad for her," Sorrell said.TaShawn died about a half hour later at U.K. Hospital.

Police are calling it an accidental tragedy. For parents of kids who knew TaShawn, this is a painful reminder of the importance of educating little ones about gun safety."I feel real bad for the family. I can't imagine what they're going through right now," said Scalos.

Grief counselors will be on hand at Cassidy Elementary on Wednesday to help students cope with the loss.