A 3-year-old girl was reportedly shot in Yellowstone National Park campground Sunday, ABC News reported Tuesday.
Park officials said Monday that the 3-year-old girl who died from a gunshot wound inside the park was Ella Marie Tucker of Pocatello, Idaho.
LA Times reported that the girl's mother had called for emergency dispatchers, saying that her daughter shot herself using a handgun.
Emergency team responded right away to the shooting scene at the Grant Village Campground, and attempted to resuscitate the girl.
Park spokesman Al Nash said the name of the 3-year-old was withheld until Monday as part of the request of her family.
Authorities revealed Sunday the age of the toddler as well as the weapon used in the shooting, a pistol which apparently belonged to her father.
Nevertheless, investigators have not yet released official statement whether the shooting was accidental or deliberate, Chicago Tribune reported.
Nash said in an interview with LA Times that the "3-year-old shot in Yellowstone" incident is the first fatal death involving a gun in the park since 1978, and it marks the first shooting of a child since 1938, when the park's master mechanic's 13-year-old son had accidentally shot himself with a rifle.
"We have a pretty small number of fatalities in the park every year, and an awfully high percentage are health-related ... like heart attacks," Nash added.
According to LA Times, carrying of guns in national parks and federal wildlife areas is permitted as long as citizens obey federal, state, and local laws. The federal law came about in 2009, and took effect in 2010 after President Barack Obama had signed it.
Nonetheless, the park's literature clarified that firing a gun "except in rare circumstances" as well as hunting inside the park are both banned in Yellowstone.
The portion of the forested campsite, where the incident took place remained cordoned off on Sunday, and the National Park Service, Yellowstone rangers, and special investigators are continuing their investigation as of late, Nash said, adding that the incident was "the kind of thing that isn't supposed to happen here."
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