Two-year-old accidentally shoots himself dead with policeman father's gun

Toddler dies on operating table after being rushed to hospital with a head wound

The Cleveland Justice Centre Complex, where the boy's policeman father has served for 23 years (Getty)

A two-year-old child has died after shooting himself with his policeman father's gun.

Cleveland police said the toddler died during surgery. They said his father's service weapon had gone off after he grabbed it on Thursday.

The identity of the 54-year-old police officer, who has served in the Ohio city's police force for 23 years, has not been revealed. The child was named locally as Dominique.

"When I went in there, I seen that baby – he was only two years old – I seen that baby laying on the floor", neighbour Sonya Hobbs told the Cleveland.com news site.

She said was leaving her home at around 10.30am when the victim's older brother ran up to her "screaming and hollering" for someone to phone 911, because his brother had just shot himself.

Ms Hobbs said she called the police, and then entered the house to see the child with a gunshot wound to his head.

The boy was taken from his home in the Brooklyn Centre neighbourhood of Old Cleveland to the MetroHealth medical centre, where he died on the operating table.

Fatal shootings by toddlers are increasing in the US. In 2015, more Americans were killed by toddlers than by terrorists.

The incident in Cleveland was described as an "accidental shooting" by Cleveland Police spokesperson Jennifer Ciaccia.