3-Year-Old Boy Kills Himself With Pink Gun He Thought Was Toy

Temorej Smith,3, of Greenville, S.C., accidentally shot himself to death with a pink gun (not the one above) he thought was a toy. (Photo Credits: Hal Millard, Simpsonville Parch and cheaperthandirt.com, respectively.

Temorej Smith, a 3-year-old boy from Greenville, S.C., fatally shot himself with a pink handgun he thought was a toy, WYFF-4 reports. Police ruled the Friday night shooting an accident.

The boy was in the bedroom and his grandparents were in the living room when the gun went off. His parents were not home at the time of the shooting. Johnathan Bragg of the Greenville Police Department said that officers found that they boy had been shot when they arrived at the scene. No one is in custody but the investigation is ongoing. Police have not officially said who fired the weapon.

“If you have guns, if you own guns mostly we would prefer you have them in a lock box,” Bragg said. “At least have them out of the reach of children.”

Jack Logan, a local activist who founded the group “Put Down the Guns Young People,” handed out gun locks at a Burger King, just down the street from where the young boy lost his life.

“I didn’t want to see parents having guns laying around when a child could maybe get his or her hands on a gun,” Logan said. The Greenville Police Department is also offering residents free gun locks at the Police Department at 4 McGee Street.

Temorej is survived by his parents, Jerome Christopher Smith and Tia Jacques Miller, and his sister, Taliyah Christiaun Smith. Funeral services are scheduled for today at 3 p.m. at Golden View Baptist Church in Fountain Inn, S.C. He will be buried in the church cemetery after the service.