2-year-old Texas boy shoots himself in head, father arrested

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – Police in South Texas have arrested a father hours after his 2-year-old son found a loaded gun on the kitchen table and fatally shot himself in the head.

Corpus Christi police officer Gena Pena says 22-year-old Eric Javier Morales is charged with criminally negligent homicide and is being held at the Nueces (nyoo-AY’-sis) County jail.

Pena says the child shot himself Sunday morning. Morales was not home at the time, but the child’s mother was there, as was a 1-year-old child.

Morales went to the hospital where the 2-year-old boy was taken and later met with investigators before being charged.

Jail records don’t indicate whether Morales has an attorney who can respond to the allegations against him.