DHAKA: A three-year-old boy in the United States has shot his parents after being left within reach of a gun, the latest in a spate of firearm-related tragedies involving young children.

The toddler was in a hotel room in Albuquerque, New Mexico, with his parents and two-year-old sister on Saturday when he removed a handgun from his mother’s handbag and fired one shot, CNN reports, according to The Straits Times.

The bullet struck the boy’s father in his lower buttock, exited through his hip and hit the mother in the right shoulder, CNN said, citing Officer Simon Drobik of the Albuquerque Police Department.

The mother is eight months pregnant. The family was not identified by police.

The father was treated and released from the hospital while the mother was hospitalised in stable condition. The condition of her unborn child is unknown.

BDST: 1410 HRS, FEB 02, 2015