Chicago police said a three-year-old boy died after being accidentally shot in the head by his six-year-old brother.

Authorities said the boy was carried by a relative to a hospital after being shot about 9.05pm on Saturday, and was later pronounced dead at a different hospital.

Police said the father knowingly stored a loaded revolver on top of a refrigerator where children could access it. He has been charged with felony child endangerment.

Police said the father would appear in bond court on Sunday. A police spokesman, Anthony Guglielmi, said the father told told investigators he was a former gang member and felt he needed the gun to protect his family.

Guglielmi said the older boy and his younger brother wanted to play “cops and robbers” when one of them retrieved the loaded gun.



Guglielmi said police were trying to trace the gun.