PHILADELPHIA — A 4-year-old girl was killed by her 2-year-old brother in an accidental shooting outside a Chester gas station Tuesday morning, police said.
The child, whose name was not released, was found shot just before 11 a.m. inside a vehicle parked at the Eagle Save Mart at Ninth and Kerlin streets in Chester, according to investigators. She was rushed to a nearby hospital, where she was pronounced dead.
Investigators believe the 2-year-old had been handling a gun left unsecured inside the vehicle while the gun’s owner was inside the gas station’s mini-mart. An adult who was pumping gas into the vehicle at the time of the shooting heard the gunshot and took the girl to the hospital.
Delaware County District Attorney Jack Stollsteimer said detectives from his office are assisting Chester police in investigating the “absolutely tragic” shooting.
“Everybody in the community of Chester, in Delaware County, myself included, all of us are just heartbroken to think of what happened to this poor child,” he said.
