Boy fatally shoots himself with dad's firearm

A Soweto father has been arrested and charged with culpable homicide after his 11-year-old son allegedly shot and killed himself with his firearm.

The child's death was witnessed by his friends who were playing with him at the time. However, they were not harmed during the shooting.

Police have also confirmed that the firearm that the child used to shoot himself in the head had been stolen in the West Rand.

They did not want to give details of the theft saying information about that would be revealed in court.

Gauteng police spokesperson Lt-Col Mavela Masondo said: “This was a stolen firearm and it was reported stolen in Randfontein. However, all the information about the charges of the stolen firearm will be presented in court.”

The incident happened on Tuesday morning at around 11.30am.

Spokesperson for Naledi police station, Sgt Anthony Kholo, said the child from Emndeni, was playing with his friends when he suddenly got inside the house.

He then went to his father's bedroom then started playing with a firearm, calling his friends to the window and showing it to them as they stood outside.

“The two male friends were standing outside when suddenly the firearm went off and this was when they ran away from the scene unharmed,” police said.

Kholo also told Sowetan that while the incident happened in the morning around 11.30am, police were only summoned around 2pm.

He said there were suspicions that the family had tampered with the incident scene.

“The grandmother called the father who was not at home when the incident happened, and they removed the firearm and cartridges on the scene. The scene was completely tampered with,” said Kholo. 

The father was arrested and charged with culpable homicide and the possession of an unlicensed firearm. He is now in custody and expected to appear in court soon.

The grandfather of one of the children who witnessed the shooting said his grandson has not been the same since that day.

“On the day of the incident, these children were crying and struggled to even talk to the police. They told us that the deceased had shown them the gun even a day before the incident on the street. The family has decided to move the child to a relative for a few days,” said the man, who preferred to remain anonymous.