Kentucky 2-year-old dies after sibling fires; 3rd small child to die by guns in 21 days

A 2-year-old child died after being accidentally shot by a sibling Tuesday in Western Kentucky.

The Barren County sheriff’s office said they were called to the home of an Amish family on Buck Creek Road after the shooting at about 8:45 a.m.

“The children had been sent upstairs to get some items for their parent prior to the incident taking place,” the sheriff’s office said in a news release.

The sheriff’s office said the juvenile sibling had been handling a loaded rifle when the toddler was shot. The child was pronounced dead at the scene.

It was the third fatal shooting of a small child in Kentucky in less than a month.

On Friday, a 3-year-old Harlan County boy died after sustaining a gunshot wound to the head on his front porch in the Totz community.

A 2-year-old boy died Aug. 15 after shooting himself in the head in Louisville.

A Herald-Leader investigation last year found that at least 36 Kentucky children had accidentally shot themselves or another child over the previous five years.