Police: 3-year-old shoots, kills self in Clinton Twp.

Police say a 3-year-old boy apparently fatally shot himself Tuesday afternoon after finding a gun outside an apartment complex in Clinton Township.

The incident happened around 1 p.m. at the Newport Arms Apartments on Lotus Drive, said Capt. Richard Maierle of the Clinton Township Police Department.

According to police, the boy was playing with a group of children with his mother nearby. The mother heard a shot as the child fell.

The parents drove him to McLaren Macomb Hospital, where he was pronounced dead, Maierle said.

Witnesses told officers they saw the gun on the ground, but that it later went missing.

Police are working to find out where the gun came from and what happened to it after the shooting.

“There was a gun out there,” Maierle said. “The gun has disappeared.”

cwilliams@detroitnews.com

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