A father who was cleaning his shotgun accidentally shot his 10-year-old son to death at their home in North Carolina.
Christopher Stanlane was wiping the gun down Sunday afternoon when he shot the boy in the head, Capt. Anthony Thompson of the Robeson County Sheriff’s Office told NBC affiliate WMBF.
Stanlane dropped his gun and rushed his 8-year-old daughter to another room while his wife called 911.
The son, Christopher Jr., was pronounced dead by paramedics at the house in the town of Fairmont.
“Most people think that guns are what kill people, and it’s not,” said Sgt. Eric Gavaghan, another county sheriff’s official, who teaches gun safety classes. “The people and their inexperience, their lack of training, that’s what hurts other people with firearms.”
