Another child shooting

A young boy was accidentally shot Friday after a group of children playing in a southeast Houston apartment found an improperly stored gun and fired it, police said.

The shooting is the latest in a spate of incidents where children have been killed or injured due to the improper use or storage of firearms.

In Friday's incident, police were called to the scene - at an apartment in the 100 block of East Edgebrook - initially with reports that a boy had been accidentally shot in the arm.

The incident took place around 11 a.m., according to John Cannon, a Houston Police Department spokesman, who said the victim was a 5-year-old boy.

"He was accidentally shot by a family member and then taken to an area hospital," Cannon said. Cannon said he did not know the child's condition.

No one was at the home, located in a large apartment complex about 15 miles southeast of downtown. Neighbors were unable to provide information about the family or the shooting.

Other news reports indicated the boy was expected to be fine.

Houston police are trying to interview all the children and find out whether an adult was nearby, Cannon said.

On March 19, a 6-year-old boy was killed in his west Harris County apartment after a bullet neighbors fired in an adjacent apartment tore through a wall and struck him in the head.

And just weeks before, a spate of accidental shootings involving young children left a 3-year-old dead in northwest Harris County, a 4-year-old killed in an accidental shooting in north Harris County, and another child in critical condition at the hospital.

Late Friday afternoon, officials with Child Protective Services had not yet been able to determine if state officials had ever dealt with the families involved in the shooting earlier in the day.