PORTSMOUTH, Va. — UPDATE: As a result of the investigation, police determined that the incident was an accidental discharge of a firearm.
Jaquan Askew, 20, was arrested as a result and was charged with allowing access to firearms by children.
A gun found in the home where a 3-year-old was shot in Portsmouth Monday was left "loaded and unattended with disregard to human life," investigators wrote in court documents obtained by 13News Now.
According to the Portsmouth Police Department, the child died from a gunshot wound Monday afternoon. He was taken to a hospital for treatment before passing away from his injuries.
The court documents detail how police officers responded to the shooting, conflicting reports made to police and what investigators are looking for in this case.
The documents said Portsmouth police officers responded to a house on Ash Street around 4:30 p.m. Monday for a report of a gunshot wound.
When officers got there, they located the 3-year-old, who had a gunshot wound to his head.
The officers started life-saving measures until medics got there and took the child to the Children's Hospital of The King's Daughters for treatment. He was pronounced dead at 5:04 p.m.
According to the documents, the child's father, who was his caretaker and was at the house when the shooting happened, told Portsmouth detectives that two other people were at the home when the shooting happened.
The father said he went to the bathroom and then heard a gunshot. When he walked out, he called for one of the people inside the home, but didn't get an answer, the documents said.
When the child's father went into one of the bedrooms, he saw his son's injury, adding that the person he called out for was no longer at the house.
The documents state that detectives went to talk to that person, who told them he was at work before the shooting happened. He said that he rushed home after getting a phone call about the shooting but denied being inside before it happened.
Because of the conflicting statements, police are looking to obtain cell phone files and data that could determine if the location and call log could validate what he told detectives.
After police got a search warrant for the house, they recovered a Glock 33 .357 Sig from the area where the child was shot.
"Based off the investigation this firearm was left loaded and unattended with disregard to human life," the documents read.