Imperial Beach

An 8-year-old boy who was shot in the head at a neighbor’s house died Wednesday at Children’s Hospital, a spokesman said.

Richard Edward Krecklow II was taken by Life Flight to Children’s Hospital on Tuesday, where he remained on a life-support system until he died shortly before 2 p.m. in the intensive care unit, said spokesman Mark Morelli.

Krecklow was found about 2:30 p.m. Tuesday by a neighbor in an alley near 11th Street and Cypress Avenue with a gunshot wound to his head, according to the Sheriff’s Department.

Krecklow and a 10-year-old girl were looking at guns in a back bedroom of the girl’s home in the 500 block of 10th Street when one of the guns was fired, said Sgt. Steve Woods. The girl tried to help Krecklow to a friend’s house, but failed to make it.

It was still unclear Wednesday evening who was holding the gun when it fired, Woods said. Sheriff’s homicide detectives sent three loaded small-caliber rifles to a lab to be tested.

Woods said that there were no adults at the girl’s home at the time of the incident. However, the boy was being supervised at his home by a male friend of his mother, he said.