ST. LOUIS COUNTY — A 3-year-old boy fatally shot himself Thursday after finding a gun in the Laurel Park apartments north of Jennings, police said.

Police were notified of a shooting at 11:35 a.m. at the apartment complex, in the 9500 block of Jacobi Avenue.

The boy, identified as Rodney March III, was home with his mother and father, police said. Investigators believe Rodney found a gun in a bedroom of his family’s apartment and shot himself.

His mother was rushing Rodney to the hospital, police said, but then saw a St. Louis County police car outside a Family Dollar store in the 9800 block of Halls Ferry Road.

She waved down the police officers, who stopped to help. One of the officers began first aid and moved the boy into a police car. As one officer drove to the hospital with sirens and lights on, the other continued first aid .

Emergency workers planned to fly Rodney to another hospital, but he died before they could.

Police said they are investigating the shooting as an accident.

A few neighbors came out of the apartments to watch police at work on Thursday.