Boy, 9, in South Philly shoots himself in his left hand

A 9-year-old boy was hospitalized in stable condition after accidentally shooting his left hand Thursday night in the Grays Ferry section of South Philadelphia, police said.

Police were called just before 10 p.m. to the 1500 block of South 32nd Street, where the boy wounded himself in his parents' second-floor bedroom, said Chief Inspector Scott Small. The boy had already been taken by his mother to Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.

Police were told the boy found a semiautomatic handgun behind the bed. It discharged, wounding him. Police found the gun on the bed, a bullethole in the wall, and a trail of blood leading downstairs and out the front door, Small said.

It was not immediately known whether the gun was legally owned and why it was accessible by the child, Small said. - Robert Moran