Number of kids being treated for gunshot wounds on the rise in North Texas
FORT WORTH, Texas - More children are victims of gunfire than ever before in North Texas.
Cook Children’s Medical Center in Fort Worth said it treated 35 kids for gunshot wounds through the end of May.
That almost matches the total for all of 2019.
The hospital said most of the shootings were accidental, meaning they could have been prevented.
"It doesn’t matter what time of the year it is it just seems like every two to three weeks we have some kind of injury. And those are the more severe injuries that we see that are obviously the firearms, the handguns that we all talk about. But it doesn’t exclude things like pellet guns and BB guns which we see more often. Those are less severe injuries but they still cause some real damage overall. I’ve seen kids die from BB guns and pellet guns," said Dr. Dan Guzman, an ER doctor at Cook Children’s.
Doctors urge families to keep guns in a safe and secure place and to teach children about gun safety.