The Maine State Medical Examiner’s Office said July 25 that an 8-year-old boy died from a gunshot wound to the head inside his Oakland home Tuesday night, July 23.

State Police said Parker Stevens was handling his father’s 12 gauge shotgun inside a closet of his parent’s second floor bedroom when the gun fired.  Parker was found by his mother when she went to look for him about 6 p.m., according to a news release from the Maine Public Safety Office.  She and her three other younger children were on the first floor of the house and did not hear the shot.  

Parker was going into the fourth grade at the William’s Elementary School in Oakland.

Detectives said the Mossberg shotgun had eight shotgun shells in the gun’s magazine tube and Parker apparently racked one of those shells into the chamber before he fired the gun.  

State Police had a number of safety suggestions for parents who possess a gun with children in the home.

Guns should be unloaded and out of reach.

Ammunition and the weapons should be separated.

Gun locks and gun safes can be used for safe storage.

Most police departments in Maine have free trigger locks available.