SAUCIER, Miss. (AP) - A 6-year-old Mississippi boy was hospitalized after being shot while handling a gun in his grandparents' house.

  

Harrison County Sheriff Troy Peterson tells news outlets that the boy found a .22-caliber handgun in an unlocked dresser drawer Monday.

  

Peterson says the 6-year-old was handing the gun to his 8-year-old brother when it shot one bullet that went through both of the younger boy's legs.

  

The boy was taken by helicopter to the University of South Alabama Medical Center in Mobile with injuries that were not life-threatening.

  

The sheriff says the children's grandmother, who is their legal guardian, was in another room of their Saucier home.

  

Sheriff's investigator Neal Allen says the gun did not have a trigger lock. No charges were immediately filed, and an investigation continues.