A 15-year-old boy from suburban Minneapolis shot and killed his younger brother during a game of “cops and robbers” using what they thought was an unloaded handgun, police said on Monday.

The boy called police to their home in Eagan, Minnesota, on Sunday morning, first telling emergency dispatchers his 13-year-old brother had fallen on a knife accidentally, was bleeding and was unresponsive, Eagan Police said in a statement.

ADVERTISEMENT

Once police arrived, the boy said he had shot his brother, accidentally, police said. Efforts to save him failed and the boy was pronounced dead at the scene, police said.

Police said the shooting “appears to be a horrible accident” and the facts would be presented to the Dakota County Attorney’s Office for review. No one is in custody and police do not anticipate future arrests, the statement said.

Investigators determined the boys had recently found their father’s 9mm handgun, which was hidden unloaded in the residence with a magazine holding cartridges nearby, police said.

At some point, the handgun was loaded, and then thought to be unloaded by one of the boys, who began to chase each other while playing “cops and robbers,” police said.

The 15-year-old pressed the trigger and unintentionally fired once toward his brother, striking him in the chest with the round, police said. Their 11-year-old sister, who was also home, did not see the shooting and was uninjured, police said.

ADVERTISEMENT

(Reporting by David Bailey in Minneapolis; Editing by Sandra Maler)

Watch a report on the incident, as aired on KARE-TV on Monday, below.