A 4-year-old is dead after a 6-year-old got hold of a firearm and shot the child Saturday morning near 53rd and Center on Milwaukee's north side. Police say officers responded to the scene at about 8:55 a.m., and the young victim died at the scene.
The Milwaukee Police Department says the 4-year-old sustained a fatal injury and died at the scene, according to CBS58. The Milwaukee County Medical Examiner's Office confirmed it was dispatched to a home near 53rd and Center on Saturday morning for reports of a child shot, according to FOX6 News.
Teen Arrested for Possessing the Firearm
Police arrested a 16-year-old in connection with the shooting for possessing a firearm, per the CBS58 report. Criminal charges are expected to be referred to the Milwaukee County District Attorney's Office, though it has not been confirmed whether any charges have actually been filed against the teen. No further details about the 16-year-old, the 6-year-old, or the victim have been released.
In its statement, MPD reiterated a message it has repeated after similar tragedies: keep firearms out of the hands of children and store and secure them properly. The department's plea echoes a pattern researchers have documented nationally, where unsecured weapons left within reach of young children have led to preventable deaths.
A Pattern Playing Out Across Milwaukee
Saturday's shooting is not an isolated case in the city. In a separate, earlier Milwaukee incident, a 6-year-old died after finding and firing an unsecured gun; police charged the boy's mother, Daquela Collins, and his uncle, Quintell Collins, according to WISN. The criminal complaint in that case said the child shot himself with a gun that had been left unsecured in a closet, and a court commissioner set bond at $10,000 for Collins and $100,000 for her relative, per the same report. That case is distinct from Saturday's shooting near 53rd and Center and involved a different child and household.
In March 2026, seven young people in Milwaukee were involved in firearms incidents, according to Milwaukee NNS. The outlet also cited a 2026 RAND analysis finding that strong child-access prevention laws reduce multiple types of harm among youths, including unintentional firearm injuries and deaths, youth suicide and self-harm, and violent crime. Michigan reported a 60% decline in unintentional shootings by children during the first full year after its own safe-storage law took effect, the same report noted.
What National Data Shows About Unsecured Guns
Federal data underscores why officials keep pressing the storage message. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has found that firearms used in unintentional injury deaths were often stored loaded and unlocked, and were most commonly accessed from nightstands and other sleeping areas, according to the CDC, which has said such deaths among children are preventable. A separate study examining media coverage of pediatric unintentional firearm deaths found 223 fatalities attributed to unintentional firearm discharge among children ages 0 to 11, with prevention messaging about safe storage appearing in only a fraction of the news coverage reviewed, per research published on PMC.
No additional details about Saturday's shooting, including the identities of those involved or the exact circumstances that led to the child obtaining the firearm, have been released. Hoodline will update this story as Milwaukee police and the Milwaukee County District Attorney's Office release further information.
