Detectives say the boy apparently gained access to a handgun kept in a bedroom drawer before the fatal shooting.
ANTIOCH, TN — Youth Services detectives are investigating the death of a 5-year-old boy who police say apparently shot himself with a handgun inside his Antioch home Saturday, Aug. 29.
Metropolitan Nashville Police Department officials said the shooting happened at a home on Bison Court. The child was taken to Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt, where he died. Authorities have described the shooting as apparent and accidental while detectives continue reviewing the circumstances surrounding the boy’s death.
The boy was identified in local news reports as Matthew Munoz-Summers. Police said his father reported that he was downstairs watching television when he heard a loud bang. The father went upstairs and found his son suffering from a gunshot wound. The child’s mother was away from the home running errands at the time, according to police.
Investigators recovered a .380 handgun from the home. Police said the boy’s mother told detectives the firearm had been stored in a drawer in a bedroom. Authorities have not publicly released additional details about how the child obtained the weapon or how long he may have had access to it before the shooting.
No criminal charges had been announced as of Tuesday. Police said the investigation will be presented to the Davidson County District Attorney’s Office after detectives complete their work. Prosecutors will then review the findings and determine whether the evidence supports any further action.
The case remained under investigation by the police department’s Youth Services detectives. Authorities have not announced evidence indicating that another person intentionally shot the child, and the department’s public statement characterized the death as an apparent accidental, self-inflicted shooting. Investigators have not released a more detailed public account of the moments immediately before the gun fired.
The death has renewed attention in Nashville to the risk posed when children can reach unsecured firearms. Police said free gun locks are available at department headquarters, all eight Metro Nashville police precincts and the Records Division public counter in Madison. The department included the reminder in its statement announcing the investigation.
The Antioch shooting was the second reported accidental fatal shooting involving a young child in Nashville this year. In April, a 6-year-old boy died after suffering a self-inflicted gunshot wound, according to reporting by The Tennessean. In that earlier case, the child’s father was charged with criminal homicide. The circumstances and legal findings in the two cases are separate, and authorities have not announced charges in the Bison Court investigation.
Detectives continue to gather information about the Aug. 29 shooting before turning the completed investigation over to prosecutors. Police have not announced when that review will be finished or when the District Attorney’s Office could make a decision.
Author note: Last updated September 1, 2026.