A terrible tragedy happened in Baton Rouge on Friday after a father left his child unattended near a firearm a WBRZ report says.

According to investigators with the East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff's Office, Lynzell Anderson told them he left the passenger car door open to go inside and get his kids. He, his fiancée, and the child were going to head to a store.

Officials say that the 4-year-old boy was unsupervised in the car. He got his father's gun. The boy was playing with the gun when he ended up shooting himself in the face. Anderson says he heard the gunfire.

The coroner pronounced the child dead at the scene.

City of Baton Rouge and East Baton Rouge Parish Mayor-President Sharon Weston Broome said,

The tragic incident of a four-year-old finding a gun and shooting himself is equally sad and frustrating.

Anderson has now been charged with negligent homicide.

Deputies say the man usually had a gun under his passenger seat in his car. They added the man told them the gun was not locked up and there was no safety device on the gun.

Mayor-President Broome added,

Children should never have access to a gun and that's why it is imperative to secure your firearm in your home with a gunlock or inside a gun safe. My office provides free gunlocks at City Hall. I extend my deepest condolences to the child's family and loved ones, please keep them in our prayers.

Officials with the Sheriff's Office say the gun was later found in some grass in Anderson's backyard.

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