US: Child fatally shoots friend with rifle moments after playing with toy guns

Moments after two children were playing with toy guns, one of the children picked up a real rifle in a western Alaska home and fatally shot the other child, authorities said.

Alaska State Troopers were notified by both tribal and local police Sunday of the child’s death in Mountain Village, the statewide law enforcement agency said.

Troopers responded and found the two children playing with Nerf guns, when one of them picked up a rifle and shot the other one, revealed an online statement put out by the troopers.

Village health aides declared the child dead, and the body will be sent to Anchorage for an autopsy.

The child got the rifle inside the home where the shooting occurred, and an adult was inside the home at the time, troopers spokesperson Austin McDaniel told an international media outlet.

No criminal charges have been filed, and McDaniel said the investigation is ongoing.

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