A community mourns a 4-year-old boy who died of a gunshot wound in his Coatesville home

As Tuesday morning faded into afternoon, the magnitude of the shooting that claimed the life of a 4-year-old boy Monday night weighed heavily on neighbors on Chestnut Street in Coatesville.

The boy, who lived with his family in a home that had been converted into apartments, died of a gunshot wound to the face, police said. Neighbors said relatives told them the boy accidentally shot himself.

“He’s a sweetheart, a quiet little kid,” said Daython Parker, 36, whose mother lives across the street from the boy’s family. “I see him every morning going to school. ... [The boy’s family] are good people. I’ve been praying. That’s all you can do is pray for the family.”

“I saw the mom yelling. She couldn’t speak. When I seen that, I wouldn’t want to be in that position. I felt very bad,” Ivis Gonzalez, 21, said of the immediate aftermath of the shooting, which was reported to police at 5:17 p.m.

“I started praying for everybody, to be honest. That’s a hard thing for anybody to go through, especially when it’s a 4-year-old child. They were always cheerful, happy people,” said Gonzalez, who added that he was friendly with the boy’s teen brother.

Coatesville police confirmed that the boy, whose name they did not release, had been shot in the face and was pronounced dead in the home by paramedics. They declined to release further details, including who owns the gun that killed the child.

The Chester County District Attorney’s Office declined to comment, except to say that the shooting was under investigation..

Coatesville Police Cpl. Paul Antonucci said,

“There are no charges yet, and there might not be charges, but the investigation is ongoing.” The investigation is being conducted jointly by Coatesville police and Chester County detectives.

Neighbors said the boy lived with his mother and several siblings and had two young adult sisters who lived elsewhere.

Melinda Anderson, 55, a family friend, stopped by to pay her respects and to pick up the mother’s toddler granddaughter to baby-sit.

“This is a hard one. There’s no words for it now ― no life,” she said before getting into her car. “Guns! Guns! They need to get these guns out of here.”

Leonard Morris, 36, who lives across the street from the boy’s family, said he often baby-sat for the boy. “I actually cried last night because I couldn’t believe it. I’d just seen him a couple days prior ― just went to see him,” he said while standing on his front porch.

Morris said he heard the gunshot as he was driving his truck to the post office down the block. “This is a lot to deal with,” he said. “It’s a wake-up call for the community.”