6-year-old in NJ shoots little brother while playing with gun

UPDATE: 4-year-old brother dies — mom is arrested

EAST ORANGE — Authorities say a 6-year-old boy playing with a gun accidentally shot his 4-year-old brother in the head in their home.

A city spokeswoman told NJ.com that the shooting occurred around 11:15 a.m. Saturday at a Norman Street residence. The wounded child was being treated at a hospital, but further details on his condition were not immediately available.

The spokeswoman said the gun belonged to the boy's mother. It was not immediately known how the child got the gun.

No charges have been filed so far, but the investigation into the shooting is ongoing.

The accident in Essex County comes days after a 4-year-old girl in Philadelphia died after shooting herself in the head with a gun inside her home.

The incident also recalls the 2013 Toms River incident in which a 4-year-old shot and killed his 6-year-old neighbor with a shotgun his dad kept under the bed. The preschooler's parents were made to pay $572,588 to the victim's family. The father, Anthony Senatore, pleaded guilty to child endangerment and was sentenced in 2015 to three years in prison, serving nine months before he was paroled.

East Orange police and investigators with Essex County's Major Crimes Task Force are investigating the shooting.

The names of the mother and her sons have not been released.

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The Associated Press contributed to this report.