A 3-year-old child suffered a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the arm Wednesday night after finding a gun inside a vehicle parked in a Hooksett driveway, prompting a police and fire response and a medical flight to Boston. The child was located in a parked vehicle on Whitehall Road, where officers responding to a report of an accidental shooting found the toddler injured just before 6:30 p.m.
According to Manchester Ink Link, the Hooksett Police Department and Hooksett Fire Rescue Department were both dispatched to the residence on Wednesday evening. The child was first taken to Elliot Hospital in Manchester, and was then flown to a Boston hospital for further treatment, as reported by Boston 25 News. Boston 25 News reports the child suffered serious but non-life-threatening injuries, and that no name has been released.
Elliot Hospital serves as Manchester's designated Level II Regional Trauma Center and operates southern New Hampshire's only Level III Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, according to NH Business Review. Local hospitals in the region typically stabilize pediatric trauma patients before transferring them by air to specialized children's hospitals in Boston, which explains why the toddler was moved after initial treatment.
Police Say Investigation Remains Active
Hooksett Police Support Services Lieutenant Valerie Lamy confirmed in an official statement that all involved parties are cooperating with the investigation, and that no further details would be released immediately because the criminal investigation remains open. Boston 25 News similarly reported that everyone involved was reportedly cooperating with police. The lieutenant's statement did not address who owns the firearm, how it came to be inside the vehicle, or whether it was loaded at the time.
Those questions matter under New Hampshire law. Per Giffords Law Center, RSA 650-C:1 allows a civil fine of up to $1,000 against a firearm owner if a child under 16 gains access to a loaded gun left on premises under that owner's control and negligently or recklessly discharges it. Separately, New Hampshire's reckless conduct statute, RSA 631:3, permits felony charges if someone recklessly engages in conduct involving a deadly weapon that places another person in danger of serious bodily injury, a Class B felony that can carry state prison time.
A Broader Debate Over Gun Storage Laws
The incident lands amid an active legislative fight in Concord over firearm storage. House Bill 1049-FN, introduced during the 2026 New Hampshire legislative session, would require secure storage for all firearms when not in use, mandate locking safety devices at the point of sale, and expand RSA 650-C:1 to cover unloaded firearms left near accessible ammunition while increasing penalties for negligent storage, according to New Hampshire General Court records. New Hampshire remains one of the few northeastern states without mandatory safe storage rules when children are not present.
Nationally, the numbers behind these debates are stark. Everytown for Gun Safety's #NotAnAccident Index found that 2023 was the worst year on record for unintentional child shootings in the United States, with more than 400 incidents resulting in over 270 injuries and 150 deaths, according to Everytown Research & Policy. Separate Everytown research shows more than 70% of these shootings happen in or around homes, with the highest frequency on weekends and during summer months when children are out of school — a pattern that fits a Wednesday evening driveway incident in late August.
Not the First Vehicle Gun Case in the Area
Southern New Hampshire has seen this kind of danger before. In July 2022, a man was arrested in nearby Merrimack and charged with child endangerment after allegedly leaving three young children alone in a running vehicle with a loaded gun and a knife outside a retail store, according to the New Hampshire Union Leader. Hooksett itself is a suburban Merrimack County town of 14,871 residents as of the 2020 Census, sitting along the Merrimack River between Manchester and Concord and relying on Manchester's hospital and emergency infrastructure, per Wikipedia's entry on the town.
For now, Hooksett police say the investigation is ongoing, and it remains unclear whether anyone will face civil fines under RSA 650-C:1, felony charges under the reckless conduct statute, or no charges at all. The child's current medical condition following treatment in Boston has not been publicly updated.
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