A three-year-old boy is in critical condition in a Miami hospital after apparently finding a loaded gun in a drawer at his family’s apartment and shooting himself in the head.

The incident occurred early Tuesday in the Little Haiti neighbourhood of the city, close to a notorious housing development known as the Graveyard for its high levels of gun crime.

The parents of the boy, Darnel Mundy, told police that their son was searching for an iPad to play games on when he came across the gun and fired it. They said they kept weapons in the home for their own protection but that they were usually kept locked and unloaded.

Miami police department detective Frederica Burden told the Guardian that investigators were interviewing the parents and their neighbours in the apartment block, and conducting a forensic analysis of the flat to check their explanation for the shooting. Detectives removed a handgun from the home earlier today.

“All we know for sure is that we have a child who was shot. We’re investigating all options, and until we are certain we know what happened we are not saying that he shot himself,” Burden said.

Both parents, she added, were “very distraught” and were being interviewed separately so one of them could remain with their son in hospital. Darnel’s mother and father drove the boy to Miami’s Jackson Memorial Hospital after the shooting, which took place at about 5.30am on Tuesday. Surgeons scheduled an operation for later in the morning.

Darnel’s mother, Dorphise Jean, spoke with journalists at the hospital’s Ryder Trauma Centre. Still wearing a grey T-shirt soaked in blood from when she cradled her injured son, she said she and her husband were still in bed when they heard the gun go off. She said Darnel had climbed up on a chair to open a dresser drawer in search of the iPad to play video games but instead found the gun, which then went off.

She added that Darnel was conscious as they raced to the hospital. “He was crying the whole way,” she told the Miami Herald. “I hit a car, ran red lights. They can sue me, I don’t care. He’s my everything. We are good parents. Just pray for my son.”

Neighbour Bianca Perez, who lives in the same apartment building, told reporters the episode appeared to be a tragic accident. “They say he had the gun in his hand and the little boy got shot in the head but it was an accident. I’m so sorry about that. They are good people,” she said.

Despite its reputation for gun crime, Little Haiti is no rougher than many other areas of Miami, Burden said. “Every neighbourhood has its problems. This isn’t somewhere I’d say don’t live, or anything like that,” she said.

“More and more people are taking gun classes and getting weapons for their own protection. It’s just the way of the world and no different here from anywhere else.”

She added that detectives could take another two days to finish their inquiries and figure out exactly what happened. “It’s a thorough investigation. We’re going through the apartment carefully and talking to the parents one at a time so one of them can always be with their baby,” she said.