A toddler who overcame serious health problems at birth died after accidentally shooting himself with his father's gun in their Utah home.
Linkin Leatham's parents described their two-year-old as a "miracle" baby who defied doctors' expectations by fully recovering from "multiple medical complications," according to an obituary in the Provo Daily Herald.
Melinda and Owen Leatham were in their Springville home last Tuesday when their son picked up a handgun left at his eye level and inadvertently fired it, according to KSL. But they didn't see him do it.
Linkin "tragically died in his parents' arms," the obituary said.
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Linkin Leatham
The first two months of Linkin's life were spent inside a children's hospital where he bounced back from the unspecified congenital ailments. As his parents said in the obit, he was "a fighter from the beginning."
The family held a funeral Saturday and the parents said that his heart and corneas were donated to help another child.
The Utah County district attorney's office is investigating his death and are waiting for autopsy results for answers to how the child pulled the trigger, the Salt Lake Tribune reports.
Owen Leatham is a police officer, but the weapon that killed Linkin wasn't his service gun, reports said.
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