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5-Year-Old In Stable Condition After Shooting Himself In The Foot

BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- A child is recovering after shooting himself in the foot in an alley in West Baltimore.

Marcus Washington has more on the questions and issues this shooting is raising in the community.

Police have not said how the child got the gun or if he was in that alley alone. But this incident has raised concerns from people in the community.

Police and crime scene tape surround one of the latest shootings in the city. But this shooting is not like others.

For one, the victim is just five years old. Police say he shot himself in the foot by accident in an alley.

"When it gets five years old, it's kind of rough," said Rev. Keith Bailey, Fulton Heights Community Association.

The small boy is expected to survive the injury, but word of what happened spread quickly throughout the West Baltimore neighborhood near West Mount and West Lexington streets as well as throughout the city.

"We have been talking about this in meetings, calling the police about guns in the alleys. You have a lot of these guns that people have surrendered in the alleys," said Rev. Bailey.

Police have not said where the child got the gun, but Rev. Keith Bailey says there are issues of abandoned guns left where a naive child can get their hands on the potentially deadly weapon.

He also says this is a reminder to all parents with guns in their homes to keep them in a secure location.

"You put them in a box, put them in a safe, put them somewhere where kids can't get a hold of them," said Rev. Bailey.

Again, police say this was a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

If anyone has information on where that gun may have come from, you're urged to call Baltimore City police.

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