6-year-old US boy dies after being shot by a 4-year-old

A six-year-old boy has died in the US after being accidentally shot in the head by his four-year-old neighbour while they were playing.

Brandon was playing with the four-year-old at his Toms River home in New Jersey on Monday evening when the latter left the yard and went inside.

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"The 4-year-old ... retrieved a rifle within the house, a .22-caliber rifle, came outside," according to Toms River police Chief Michael Mastronardy.

"A shot went out and the 6-year-old was struck in the head." Brandon Holt was pronounced dead Tuesday at Jersey Shore University Medical Center in Neptune, a report said.

The 4-year-old, whose name was withheld, was not injured. The parents of the younger boy were home at the time of the incident.

The Atlantic County prosecutor's office is leading the investigation to determine whether charges will be filed in the case and, if so, against whom, Mastronardy said Tuesday night.

The shooting came just days after a 4-year-old boy in Tennessee grabbed a loaded gun and accidentally shot to death the wife of a sheriff's deputy.u00a0