KANNAPOLIS — Police say a 3-year-old boy fatally shot himself in the head Monday after somehow getting his father’s loaded pistol out of a cabinet.

The family told police they kept the cabinet locked.

The accidental shooting occurred as the toddler, Nicholas Lynn Evick, played alone just before 1 p.m. at 203 Horne St., a dead-end street off Ridge Avenue in southern Kannapolis.

Kannapolis Police Detective Luke Blume said the toddler was apparently alone in his parents’ bedroom — where the locked cabinet containing the guns is kept — Monday afternoon.

The boy’s father was visiting a relative, Blume said. His mother, who neighbors said is a nurse, was in the kitchen and his brothers elsewhere in the house.

Blume said the boy appears to have somehow gotten into the cabinet where his father keeps two handguns, a .38 revolver and a semi-automatic handgun.

The cabinet is secured with a lock made into the door of the cabinet, Blume said. But the toddler got into the cabinet, got the loaded revolver out and shot himself.

“Exactly how he got in this cabinet is pure speculation, because he was in the room by himself,” Blume said. “... It’s something we may never know.”

Emergency workers took the boy to NorthEast Medical Center with a severe head wound. Officials there had him airlifted to Carolinas Medical Center. A doctor pronounced him dead at 6 p.m.

Blume said he would turn over information from his investigation to the Cabarrus County District Attorney’s office today, though he is not seeking any charges.

The couple and their other two children were staying with grandparents this morning.

The boy’s parents, Bradford and Stephanie Evick, did not feel comfortable commenting with the investigation still ongoing and being so soon after their son’s death.

Nicholas’ grandmother Sheri Evick, also of Kannapolis, said, “It is hard to really say anything.” She called Nicholas’ death a horrible accident.

Bradford Evicks served as a volunteer fireman in Kannapolis for several years.

Kannapolis Fire Chief Larry Phillips said that Evick joined the department in 1995 and was very active in the First Responders team that was formed just before he started. First Responders is a team of medical workers who administer emergency first-aid and basic life support. They often are the first to arrive on a scene and can sustain a victim until an Emergency Medical Service unit can arrive.

Phillips said that he had a great deal of respect for Evicks. The two have known each other for 10 years, and Phillips described Evicks as a “fine, young man.”

Evicks left the volunteers shortly after the child was born in 1998, citing a lack of time.

Other residents of short Horne Street describe the Evicks as quiet people and good neighbors. One said the couple seemed very protective of their children.

On Monday afternoon, a gunshot and the cries of parents in anguish broke the quiet.

Matthew Liptok, who lives one house away from the Evick, said he was in his backyard when he “heard somebody hollering.” After checking on his two children, he looked down the street and saw a police patrol car.

As he walked toward the Evicks’ house, more police cars, an ambulance and the toddler’s father passed him.

“I knew something was bad wrong then,”Liptok said.“He was really tore up. He didn’t know what was going on.”

Liptok said the toddler’s mother asked him to sit with the couple’s other two sons while they rushed to the hospital. He did, until their grandmother came and picked them up, he said.

Meanwhile other neighbors had come outside to see what was happening. Robin Jordan, who lives across Horne Street from Liptok, said the Evicks looked devastated and in shock.

“It’s so hard, so close to home, right in our backyard,” she said “ ... Children, they’re going to get into something.”

Lt. Blume agreed.

“You can’t secure a weapon too well when there’s a child around. Kids are naturally curious, and that curiosity can be deadly,” he said. “... It’s not something that’s never happened before. I’d like to think it will never happen again, but that’s not realistic, either.”

Staff writers Jill McCartney and Mike Bostian contributed to this article. Contact Scott Jenkins at 704-797-4248 or sjenkins@salisburypost.com .