Brennan Nowell was able to hold on for nearly five hours after a bullet pierced his 31-pound body just before Christmas, according to a Hamilton County Medical Examiner’s Office autopsy report released Wednesday.
The bullet flew at an angle through the front of the 2-year-old’s chest, entering just below his right breast and exiting from his upper left breast, the report states.
Brennan was taken to T.C. Thompson Children’s Hospital at Erlanger, where he later died. The probable cause of death was the gunshot wound, according to the report.
The report also releases new details of how the shooting happened at the Harrison home of Brennan’s grandparents, Stan and Janet Nowell.
On the night of Dec. 20, Brennan’s grandfather left a .40-caliber semi-automatic pistol on a chair in the family’s house on River Stream Drive, according to the report. Brennan grabbed the gun and accidentally shot himself.