A 4-year-old boy shot himself Friday evening at a DeKalb County apartment complex after finding a weapon, police said.

The shooting happened at the Woods of Decatur apartments on Tregoney Drive at about 7:10 p.m. At the scene, officers said they found the child with a gunshot wound to his foot.

The boy was taken to a hospital for injuries not considered life-threatening, police said.

Detectives “believe it was an accidental shooting after the child found an unsecured weapon,” a police spokesperson said.

Several adults were in the apartment when the gunfire occurred, police said. As of Tuesday, no one had been charged.

On Wednesday evening, a 2-year-old was hospitalized after being shot in a northwest Atlanta neighborhood, police said. The preliminary investigation indicates that shooting may have been self-inflicted after the child accidentally fired the gun.

— Please return to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution for updates.

About the Author

Featured

Fulton DA Fani Willis (center) with Nathan J. Wade (right), the special prosecutor she hired to manage the Trump case and had a romantic relationship with, at a news conference announcing charges against President-elect Donald Trump and others in Atlanta, Aug. 14, 2023. Georgia’s Supreme Court on Tuesday, Sept. 16, 2025, upheld an appeals court's decision to disqualify Willis from the election interference case against Trump and his allies. (Kenny Holston/New York Times)

Credit: NYT