PHOENIX (AP) – A 9-year-old boy shot in the head by his 2-year-old brother with their mother’s handgun died, and their mother told police she had previously let the toddler handle the gun when it wasn’t loaded, authorities said.
Landen Lavarnia was declared dead at a hospital, Phoenix police spokesman Sgt. Vince Lewis said. Police had initially said the boy died on Monday when he was shot. But they corrected themselves and said he remained on life support earlier Tuesday before dying in the late afternoon.
The mother, Wendy Lavarnia, 28, told police she had put her loaded gun on a bed within reach of her 2-year-old and 4-year-old sons while she turned to get a holster, according to court records. That’s when the 2-year-old grabbed the gun and shot her 9-year-old son, who was playing video games a few feet away, police said.
Wendy Lavarnia told police she had allowed “the 2-year-old to practice pulling the trigger of this gun when empty on previous occasions,” the records showed.
Lavarnia had appeared in court briefly before the boy was declared dead, and asked the judge whether she could go to the hospital to see him, but the judge said she couldn’t get out of jail without posting a $25,000 bond. The judge also said she had to stay away from victims in the case as well as any children.