(FOX 2) - Detroit police say a father is in custody after one of his kids shot their sibling after finding a weapon in a west side home on Wednesday.
The 11-year-old victim remains in critical condition after being taken to the hospital. Police say he was shot in the face by a handgun that was found unsecured shortly after 2 p.m.
Child shot in Detroit
The latest:
A 38-year-old Detroit man was arrested after one of his kids was shot on Wednesday.
Chief Todd Bettison said the department was praying for the 11-year-old who remains hospitalized. He declined to go into details about whether the father provided an explanation.
Instead, he would leave the update to the Wayne County Prosecutor.
The backstory:
Police responded to a Detroit residence in the 8000 block of Artesian around 2:20 p.m. after a 911 call was made from a neighbor. Three kids were at home alone when one of them shot the other.
Police say an 11-year-old was shot in the face by one of their siblings. That child and two others, ages 9 and 4 years old, were home alone.
Bettison said the child was privately taken to Grace Hospital before being taken to Children's Hospital.
"Our overall message to the community is this: at every precinct station, we give out free gun locks," Bettison said. "We have talked about this. This is so preventable."
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Detroit police on 11-year-old shot by sibling: Full press conference
Detroit Police Chief Todd Bettison spoke Wednesday afternoon after an 11-year-old boy was shot in the face by a sibling while they were home alone. The child is in critical condition.
Safe storage in Michigan
What you can do:
It is illegal for an adult to possess a firearm in a home and not have it secured when young people are also at home.
The law was enacted following a 2022 ballot measure aiming at safe storage and other gun safety measures.
Police have also continued to emphasize the importance and ease of locking up a firearm.
Neil Emanuel of Action Impact walked FOX 2 through how to secure a firearm.
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Action Impact walks through process of securing firearm
It is illegal for an adult to possess a firearm in a home and not have it secured when young people are also at home. Officials are emphasizing the need to safely lock up weapons after an 11-year-old was shot by their sibling.
The Source: Detroit Police, Action Impact, and previous reporting were cited for this story.