Warren police investigating shooting by 5-year-old boy

WARREN — Police are investigating the possibility that a 5-year-old boy shot his 20-year-old aunt with a gun he found in the aunt’s car late Thursday.

Lt. Jeff Cole of the Warren Police Department said Ashlee N. Austin of Woodbine Avenue Southeast suffered the gunshot wound while inside her car, but it’s unclear where the car was when the shooting took place.

The woman was taken to St. Joseph Health Center for treatment for a gunshot wound.

A spokesman for Humility of Mary Health Partners said the hospital cannot release any information on Austin because the hospital does not give out information on gunshot victims.

Cole said police are still investigating to determine whether the shooting was an accident and what other people were in the car at the time.

A police report lists the name of a 19-year-old Northwest Boulevard woman as a witness and two children — a 5-year-old boy and a 7-month old girl — as “additional persons.”

Police responded to 2475 Northwest Blvd. for the 9:11 p.m. incident. Cole said he doesn’t know how serious Austin’s injury is. A police report indicated she suffered a “major injury.”

The car Austin was driving was a blue 2000 Pontiac two-door.