Official: Boy, 6, playing with gun fatally shoots brother, 4

EAST ORANGE, N.J. - Authorities say a 6-year-old New Jersey boy playing with a gun fatally shot his 4-year-old brother in the head.

The Essex County Prosecutor’s Office says the children were at their home in East Orange when the shooting occurred about 11 a.m. Saturday. Chief Assistant Prosecutor Thomas S. Fennelly says the child was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 4:26 p.m. He says the shooting apparently was an accident.
He says the boy’s mother, 22-year-old Itiyanah Spruill, has been arrested and charged with endangering the welfare of a child and a weapons violation. Bail was set at $310,000. He says she was jailed, pending arraignment.
A city spokeswoman says the gun belonged to the boy’s mother. It wasn’t immediately known how the 6-year-old got the gun.