Boy, 7, accidentally shoots himself in Englewood, police say

CHICAGO (WLS) -- A 7-year-old boy appears to have fatally shot himself in the head Sunday afternoon in the Englewood neighborhood on the city's South Side, police said.

Devon Lofton, a first-grader at D.S. Wentworth Elementary School, was shot at about 3:50 p.m. in the 6700-block of South Aberdeen Street. The gun has been recovered and police are trying to determine who owns the gun, as that person could faces charges.

"We loved him," said neighbor Claudia Harris. "He just graduated from kindergarten last year and he was a happy little boy."

The boy was transported to University of Chicago Medicine Comer Children's Hospital in critical condition, where he died shortly afterward.

"This family is hurting and it's a very tough time for them, said Andrew Holmes, community activist. It's just finding out where this gun came from."

The boy was shot in his home, where he lived with his mother, grandmother and four siblings.

"If you going to have a gun in the house, they need to be secure. They need to be in lock boxes or little locks on the triggers, and away from children," Ald. Toni Foulkes (6th Ward).