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Two children died of gun violence near St. Louis on Thursday, bringing to nearly two dozen the total number of youth shot dead this year in and near the city of Missouri.
A 3-year-old boy from St. Louis County reportedly found an unsecured firearm and shot himself in the skin shortly before noon, officials said. Despite the efforts of police officers who had driven him to the hospital while he was trying to save lives, he died, the St. Louis County Police Department said in a statement.
A few hours later, a 13-year-old boy was shot in front of a building in northern St. Louis County, NBC affiliate KSDK announced in St. Louis.
St. Louis County Police Sgt. Ben Granda told reporters that the police did not think the shots were random.
The two deaths bring to 23 the number of children shot in the St. Louis area since the beginning of the year, according to the channel.
It's heartbreaking, "said St. Louis County Police Chief Jon Belmar to the press after the death of the 3-year-old boy.
"It's certainly beyond pain and sorrow to lose a child anywhere in the communities where we live," he said.
The child involved in this incident was identified by police on Thursday night as Rodney March III.
The St. Louis County Police Department was called for a shootout at 11:35 am Just after, a woman driving erratically reported two police officers who discovered the boy with a gunshot wound in the vehicle.
Belmar said that there was no time to wait for an ambulance and that the police had taken the boy to a hospital; one officer drove while the other took rescue measures.
The investigators believe that the boy was at home with his mother and father when he had an unsecured firearm in a bedroom and accidentally unloaded it.
Death is considered accidental, but officials ask anyone with information to contact the police.
On Thursday night, officers were called in northern St. Louis County around 6 pm and found a 13-year-old boy with a gunshot wound. He was taken to a hospital and declared dead shortly after his arrival, the police said.
The boy was walking into the apartment complex with two people when the shooting occurred, Granda said.
The police are looking for the shooter. Granda told reporters that "the solvency factors present are favorable".
"Although there is a lot of work to do, we think we can bring this family justice," he said.
Granda said some of the police who participated in Thursday morning's shootings were also on Thursday night.
"This kind of thing weighs heavily on the community and is a very heavy burden for the officers here, doing their best," Granda said.
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