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New Jersey boy shoots dead four-year-old brother while playing with gun

The boys’ mother has been arrested and charged.

AUTHORITIES SAY A six-year-old New Jersey boy playing with a gun fatally shot his 4-year-old brother in the head.

The Essex County Prosecutor’s Office says the children were at their home in East Orange when the shooting occurred about 11am yesterday.

Chief Assistant Prosecutor Thomas S. Fennelly says the child was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 4.26pm. He says the shooting apparently was an accident.

He said the boy’s mother, 22-year-old Itiyanah Spruill, has been arrested and charged with endangering the welfare of a child and a weapons violation. Bail was set at $310,000. He says she was jailed, pending arraignment.

A city spokesperson said the gun belonged to the boy’s mother. It was not immediately known how the six-year-old got the gun.

Read: Toddler shoots mother dead from back seat as she drives>

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