Toddler shoots mother and baby sibling at Walmart parking lot in Texas

Toddler took loaded gun kept between seat and centre console of his parents’ car parked outside a Walmart

A two-year-old from Texas accidentally shot his mother and sibling inside a car at a Walmart parking lot, said police.

The 23-year-old mother of the toddler was shot in the arm and the toddler’s 1-year-old sibling was shot in the leg at about 11.25am on Wednesday.

Police said the toddler had taken a loaded gun kept between the seat and the centre console of his parents’ car outside a Walmart in Granbury, about 60km southwest of Fort Worth.

The mother and sibling were hospitalised after the incident, but are now out of danger, police said.

The mother was slightly more seriously wounded and was taken to a hospital at Fort Worth by air, while the 1-year-old was transported by road, according to Russell Grizzard, a police lieutenant.

The toddler’s father was outside the vehicle when the gun was fired, Granbury police said in a statement.

The “mother of the children, a 23-year-old Granbury woman, was standing outside next to the driver’s door” while the 26-year-old father “was standing at the rear of the truck,” according to the police statement.

“The bullet went through soft tissue in the [1-year-old child’s] leg, through the mother’s arm, and into her side in her chest area,” it added.

Mr Grizzard told reporters that police were investigating if any charges will be filed against the parents.

“It’s too early in an investigation to determine if any criminal charges are going to be appropriate, but we will look into that,” he said.

The names of the parents and the children were not disclosed by the police.

At least 32 Texan children below the age of 17 died in unintentional shootings in 2019, according to Texas Gun Sense, a nonprofit working for gun violence prevention, which cited government data.

There were 3,683 gun-related deaths in Texas in the same year, according to the organisation.