Three-year-old boy accidentally shoots and kills his mother in Chicago grocery store parking lot

Toddler found father’s firearm in backseat of car

A 22-year-old mother was accidentally shot and killed by her three-year-old son in a grocery store parking lot in suburban Chicago, Illinois.

On Saturday, the child got ahold of the weapon in the backseat of his family’s car and started playing with it when it fired, hitting mother Dejah Bennet in the neck in the parking lot of a Food For Less supermarket in Dolton, south of Chicago.

She was pronounced dead at a hospital in the area.

Dolton trustee Andrew Holmes told WLS-TV that the death “could have been prevented”.

He was handing out 400 gun locks at the store on Sunday and raising awareness about 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,” Mr Holmes said. “If you leave it, secure it.”

Authorities said the father indicated that he owned the gun. They added that he was in custody, but as of Monday, no charges had yet been filed.