NEWARK, N.J. (WABC) – Police are trying to determine how a small child got hold of a gun and accidentally pulled the trigger on Thursday evening.

The three-year-old boy is in critical condition after accidentally turning a loaded gun on himself, causing his older brother to run to get help.

It was around 5:47 p.m. on Thursday when the toddler pulled the trigger in a blue house on Wainwright Street.

Seven minutes later, surveillance video from a convenience store shows his older brother leaving the house and heading to the store to get help.

The manager said he came into the store around 5:54 p.m. with blood on his shirt. His brother told him he needed help and his younger brother couldn’t breathe.

Seconds later, the camera captured the brother and one of the salesmen walking back to the house. The salesman immediately returned and raised the alarm.

When the salesman returned, he started shouting: “Boss, there’s a little boy lying there rolling around in blood.”

The manager called 911.

“I’m scared myself because we were here, but we didn’t know what was happening, but we saw all the police and everything,” said Newark resident Edith Frinpong.

Frinpong has two children, ages 5 and 7. She lives in the neighborhood and says it’s devastating to hear that a child was injured in this way. She says it’s hard to understand how such a young child could get a gun so easily.

“We should be careful to keep weapons in our homes… in a safe place,” Frinpong said.

The Newark Police Department’s investigation was still ongoing as of Friday afternoon.

According to police, there were three children in the house at the time of the shooting.

One mother says she knows it could have ended much worse.

“And what would you say… you would blame yourself for the rest of your life,” Frinpong said.

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