California 10-year-old used father's stolen gun to fatally shoot boy, authorities say

A California 10-year-old and his father were arrested after authorities say the child used his father's stolen gun to fatally shoot another child over the weekend.

The Sacramento County Sheriff's Office said deputies responded to reports of a shooting at a parking lot at about 4:30 p.m. on Saturday and found a child bleeding from his head and neck. The victim, also a 10-year-old boy, was taken to a hospital and pronounced dead. He was identified as Keith “KJ” Frierson, the Sacramento County Coroner's Office confirmed to USA TODAY.

According to witnesses and other evidence at the scene, the child who was eventually arrested went into his father's car to get him cigarettes, and got a gun out of the car, the sheriff's office said. The boy bragged that his father had a gun. The boy then shot the victim once and ran into a nearby apartment, authorities said.

The child accused in the shooting were not identified by authorities.

Sheriff Jim Cooper said in a post on social media that the whole incident happened in front of a 6-year-old who witnessed it.

The father, identified by the sheriff's office as 53-year-old Arkete Davis, was arrested and charged with five felonies, according to jail records: carrying a stolen, loaded firearm in a vehicle; child endangerment; possession of a firearm by a felon; criminal storage of a firearm; and accessory after the fact.

"Detectives located a firearm in a nearby trashcan, where Davis is believed to have tried to dispose of it," the sheriff's office said.

The gun had been stolen in 2017, authorities said, and Davis was prohibited from having any guns.

Davis is expected to make a court appearance on Wednesday, the sheriff's office said. It wasn't clear whether he had an attorney who could comment on his behalf. His son was charged with murder and is being held at the Sacramento County Youth Detention Facility.

The sheriff's office and the county coroner didn't immediately respond a request for more information on Monday.

Children accessing loaded guns nationwide

Gun safety advocates have been warning gun owners to keep their guns locked and inaccessible to children nationwide as hundreds of shootings each year involve children who get their hands on a gun.

Research by the advocacy group Everytown for Gun Safety showed in 2023, there were at least 377 unintentional shootings by children in the U.S., resulting in 145 deaths and 247 injuries.

An estimated 4.6 million children in the U.S. were living in a home with at least one unlocked and loaded gun in 2021, according to a study using data from the National Firearm Survey.

Last January, a 6-year-old in Newport News, Virginia, used his mother's gun to shoot and injure his first-grade teacher in the classroom; he told investigators he climbed onto a dresser to take the gun out of his mother's purse. The mother, Deja Taylor, was sentenced last month to two years in prison for child neglect.