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4-year-old dies from self-inflicted gunshot after finding gun in car, parents arrested in Manitou Springs

Carlos Perez, arrested on criminal negligent child abuse resulting in death (photo from El Paso County Sheriff's Office)

MANITOU SPRINGS, Colo. (KDVR) — A 4-year-old boy has died from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head and his parents are now in jail.

The El Paso County Sheriff’s Office said the family was in the 400 block of Manitou Avenue around noon when the father left the car to make a purchase. The 4-year-old boy was in the car with his mother and younger sibling when he found a loaded gun, deputies said.

The boy was pronounced dead on scene from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head, deputies reported.

Ashlynne Perez, 25, and Carlos Perez, 26, have been arrested and booked on a charge of criminally negligent child abuse resulting in death.