--- description: The shooting death of a 1-year-old in a Georgia home has led police to investigate whether his 3-year-old brother fired the gun title: Georgia 3-Year-Old May Have Shot and Killed Baby Brother, Police Say image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [U.S.](/section/us/) ## U.S. Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [georgia](/tag/georgia/) ## georgia Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Georgia 3-Year-Old May Have Shot and Killed Baby Brother, Police Say  by [Julia Zorthian](/author/julia-zorthian/)  ## Julia Zorthian Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Oct 2, 2016 3:26 PM CUT  by [Julia Zorthian](/author/julia-zorthian/)  ## Julia Zorthian Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Oct 2, 2016 3:26 PM CUT The [shooting death](http://www.fox5atlanta.com/news/209107603-story "undefined") of an 18-month-old boy in a Georgia home has led police to investigate whether his 3-year-old brother fired the gun that an adult left in a room with the children. The infant was shot in the head around 3 p.m. on Saturday afternoon and was pronounced dead at a local hospital around 5 p.m. Police said they believe his older brother was holding the gun and shot his younger brother in a “tragic accident,” but are also investigating whether the 1-year-old could have fired the gun himself, _Fox 5 Atlanta_ reports. “There were adults in the room at the time but the adults were not paying attention,” [said](http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/georgia-boy-1-may-have-been-shot-dead-brother-3-n658121 "undefined") Lt. Mike Ireland of Henry Country police department. “They did not actually see the incident occur.” Police said the firearm was a .45 caliber handgun, but declined to say who was the owner. No charges have been filed yet. \[[_Fox 5 Atlanta_](http://www.fox5atlanta.com/news/209107603-story "undefined")\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4515936/georgia-baby-shot/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4515936/georgia-baby-shot/"},"headline":"Georgia 3-Year-Old May Have Shot and Killed Baby Brother, Police Say","datePublished":"2016-10-02T15:26:14.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T00:57:34.288Z","description":"The 18-month-old was shot and killed in a home while adults were in the room","url":"https://time.com/4515936/georgia-baby-shot/","keywords":["georgia","Crime"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Julia Zorthian","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/julia-zorthian/"}],"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":"/tag/georgia/","name":"georgia"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4515936/georgia-baby-shot/","name":"Georgia 3-Year-Old May Have Shot and Killed Baby Brother, Police Say"}}]}] ```