Tragedy in Utah as boy, 8, dies after accidentally shooting himself in car while mum inside store

The incident occurred around 7.40pm local time on Monday in Lehi, a city approximately 30 miles south of Salt Lake City. Jeanteil Livingston, a spokesperson for the Lehi City Police Department, told KSL-TV that the boy was alone in the car when he shot himself in the head. He was rushed to the hospital, where he sadly passed away on Tuesday morning.

Police stated that the shooting appeared to be "unintentional and self-inflicted," though it remains unclear how the boy accessed the weapon.

Doug Shields, who was nearby fuelling his vehicle when the incident occurred, reported hearing a gunshot followed by a woman’s scream. He approached the car and heard the distraught mother saying that the boy had found the gun under the seat.

This tragic incident occurred less than two weeks after a similar event in Utah, where a five-year-old boy accidentally shot himself with a handgun at his home in Santaquin, about 65 miles south of Salt Lake City.

Utah currently does not have laws that penalise individuals for failing to secure an unattended firearm, nor does it require firearms to be stored in a particular manner or mandate that a locking device be sold with a firearm, according to the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence.

In a separate incident in St Louis, a four-year-old boy died on Monday from a gunshot wound while in a house with three other children under the age of 10 and no adults present. Police are investigating to determine who was handling the gun at the time of the shooting.