Chicago, Mar 14 (AP) A three-year-old boy accidentally shot his mother dead as the family sat in their car in a parking lot in a suburban Chicago supermarket, police said.

The woman, who was shot on Saturday in Dolton, was pronounced dead at a hospital, police said.

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The family was sitting in their car outside a Food for Less store when the boy somehow found the gun and fired it, striking his mother, police said. Authorities said the boy's father was in custody after indicating that he owned the gun.

No charges have been filed as police continue investigating. The Associated Press left a message on Monday seeing updated information from police.

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“This could have been prevented,” Dolton trustee Andrew Holmes said on Sunday as he visited the supermarket to hand out gun locks and speak to shoppers about the importance of gun safety.

“All it takes is a second: unlock it, thread it through the barrel, bring it back around, put it in and lock it back,” Holmes told WLS-TV. “If you leave it, secure it.” (AP) PY

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)