LEBANON, Ind. (WTHR) — A 4-year-old girl is in critical condition after she was shot by her two-year-old brother in Lebanon Thursday.
Police say the children were being watched by their grandparents when the shooting happened around 10 a.m. Thursday. The girl was taken to Riley Hospital for Children at IU Health.
Neighbors were stunned by the news.
"I'm very saddened," said Paula Harvey. "This doesn't need to happen. Does not need to happen. Especially to an innocent child. It does not need to happen."
Harvey didn't hear anything at the home next door at the corner of Park and North streets.
"We didn't hear anything at all. We just saw the police arriving and wondering what was going on. Came out to look," she said.
What they saw when they came outside disturbed them. What they heard sickened them.
"Kids are very good. Grandma takes good care of them. She babysits for them, she's a home health care aide. Very quiet people, very good people. Never had a problem with them," Harvey said.
"I cannot stress how important it is to make sure if you own a firearm they have to be safe at all times. A child does not know everything about a firearm and it doesn't take much for an accident to happen. Firearm safety, there are classes all over the place. If you are going to have one make sure you have somewhere safe to keep it," Lebanon Police Ofc. Justin Fuston said.
The Harveys aren't the only neighbors in shock over the tragedy.
"It's crazy. I see them play. I saw them playing yesterday. I see the father and the mother outside. I talk to both of them. Completely in shock. That’s crazy," said Austin Wise, who lives just across the street. "How did they get access to it? Nobody around? Just...it's sad. It's sad."