--- title: 7-Year-Old Tennessee Boy Shot to Death By Brother In Car description: A 7-year-old Tennessee boy was shot to death by his brother after they were both left alone in a car and discovered a pistol inside. canonical: https://time.com/4194886/boy-shot-brother-tennessee/ author: Melissa Chan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-01-26T22:26:33.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-31T09:09:00.552Z article:section: U.S. og:title: 7-Year-Old Boy Shot to Death By Brother With Gun Found in Mom’s Purse og:description: The gun was accidentally fired while the boy was trying to remove the magazine og:url: https://time.com/4194886/boy-shot-brother-tennessee/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: 7-Year-Old Boy Shot to Death By Brother With Gun Found in Mom’s Purse twitter:description: The gun was accidentally fired while the boy was trying to remove the magazine twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # 7-Year-Old Boy Shot to Death By Brother With Gun Found in Mom’s Purse  by [Melissa Chan](/author/melissa-chan/)  ## Melissa Chan Jan 26, 2016 10:26 PM CUT  by [Melissa Chan](/author/melissa-chan/)  ## Melissa Chan Jan 26, 2016 10:26 PM CUT A 7-year-old Tennessee boy was [shot to death by his brother](https://www.facebook.com/CrossvilleCrimestoppers/photos/a.187232204723585.39704.187222161391256/874636939316438/?type=3&theater "undefined") Monday after they were both left alone in a car and discovered a pistol inside their mother’s purse, authorities said. The victim, whose identity has not yet been released, was found bleeding from the head inside a parked car near a retail store where his mother and step-father were paying a bill, according to the Crossville Police Department. His brother had found the loaded semi-automatic pistol inside his mother’s purse, which was left in the car, and accidentally discharged it while he was trying to remove the magazine, police said. Two other children were in the car at the time of the fatal shooting. There were no other reported injuries. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4194886/boy-shot-brother-tennessee/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4194886/boy-shot-brother-tennessee/"},"headline":"7-Year-Old Boy Shot to Death By Brother With Gun Found in Mom’s Purse","datePublished":"2016-01-26T22:26:33.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-31T09:09:00.552Z","description":"The gun was accidentally fired while the boy was trying to remove the magazine","url":"https://time.com/4194886/boy-shot-brother-tennessee/","keywords":["Crime"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Melissa Chan","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/melissa-chan/"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4194886/boy-shot-brother-tennessee/","name":"7-Year-Old Boy Shot to Death By Brother With Gun Found in Mom’s Purse"}}]}] ```