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Teen faces charges after 6-year-old fatally shoots himself
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Teen faces charges after 6-year-old boy fatally shoots himself

A 14-year-old Florida boy is facing charges after a 6-year-old child fatally shot himself after authorities said the teen left the gun out, ABC News reported.

What are the details?

Jacksonville, Florida, authorities arrested the unnamed 14-year-old boy on Wednesday and charged him with culpable negligence in connection to the child's death.

On Tuesday night, 6-year-old Danny Waye III accidentally shot himself after the teen reportedly left the gun unattended.

Danny was reportedly watching television when he discovered the gun and began playing with it. The gun ended up going off and a single bullet fatally struck the boy. Authorities say that the child was struck "in the facial area" and died at the scene.

According to the report, the family said that a family friend brought the gun into the house.

Mark Shields, an uncle to the deceased child, said that the family is "hysterical" over the loss of the 6-year-old.

"It is just devastating," he added.

NBC News reported that the child's two parents are incarcerated. Zachary Williams, another uncle, was reportedly caring for the child in the parents' absence.

"He was a regular 6-year-old," Williams said. "He liked to play. He was very lovable."

'If you own a gun ... you have to have it secure'

Mark Baughman, First Coast News crime and safety analyst, said that it's important to keep guns safely locked away at all times.

"It's always paramount to make sure that if you own a gun, you're a gun owner, you have to have it secure, you always have to know where it is," he said.

He added that the charge carries a maximum sentence of about seven years in prison.

"There's things, provisions a judge can put in that sentencing such as some type of speaking engagement the individual can do on gun safety, things like that, other ways to mitigate that sentence down, because if he is a juvenile, I would think that they would maybe build in certain factors into that sentencing phase," Baughman added. "This could be a beginning point of charging, and they could charge someone else in that house since you had adults in there."

In a statement, the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office said, "A firearm had been left in a location in which the child was able to access. It appears at this time that after retrieving it, the child ultimately shot himself while handling the loaded firearm."

JSO investigating death of 6-year-old from gunshot wound, 7 people detainedwww.youtube.com

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