Lancaster child dies at friend’s home, sparking investigation – NBC Los Angeles

A death investigation was underway in Lancaster on Friday after a boy died while visiting a friend on Thursday afternoon.

According to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, officers initially responded to a call about a gunshot victim in the 44000 block of Dahlia Street.

The emergency services found the boy with a gunshot wound and tried to save him until the fire department arrived. But the boy died of his injuries at the friend’s home, the sheriff’s department said.

A firearm was found in the house.

Nobody was arrested.

Neighbors told NBC Los Angeles that they saw an older boy – about 11 years old – living at home with a woman they believed to be his mother. Mother and son have lived in the house on Dahlia Street for about a year.

Authorities did not say how the boy came into contact with the gun or whether it was an accident or intentional.

According to the Center for Injury Research and Policy at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, 22 million children in the United States live in households with at least one firearm. 75% of these children know where the weapons are kept.