A 5-year-old boy shot and killed himself after finding his father's handgun in Avondale.

According to the Avondale police, the incident took place around 9:20 a.m. in an apartment near Seventh Street and Dysart Road.

Officer Ray Emmett, an Avondale police spokesman, said the boy's mother told that, she heard a bang and entered a bedroom to find her 5-year-old with an apparent gunshot wound. She also found a 9mm handgun in the room that belonged to the boy's father, who was not present.

The two other children were home at the time, Emmett said. But an investigation determined no one else had been in the room with the boy when the gun was fired.

Officers attempted lifesaving efforts until Avondale Fire Department personnel arrived and took the boy to Abrazo West Campus in Goodyear, where he was pronounced dead, Emmett said.

The AZCentral reported, next-door neighbor Brittany Jones, said about the child's mother, that, "She's a very friendly and great person who I have become very close with." "The boy was free-spirited and full of life. He was so smart."

"I don't know what to say to him," Jones said. "I will explain to him the seriousness of picking up something that you come across. But, honestly, how can I tell him what happened to his friend?"

"They were a young couple who cares about their family." "Many parents around here let their kids run around and do whatever they want.

They were different. They sat outside when the kids played and watched them," Neighbor Sophia Terry said.

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Nandini