OAKLAND, Maine (WGAN)   Police say an eight-year-old boy found dead inside his Oakland home Tuesday night died from a gunshot wound to the head.

State Police say the boy, identified as Parker Stevens, was handling his father’s 12-gauge shotgun inside a closet in his parents’ bedroom on the second floor when the gun fired.

The boy’s mother found him when she went to look for him around 6 p.m.  Police say she and her three younger children were on the first floor of the house and did not hear the shot.

Detectives say the Mossberg shotgun had eight shotgun shells in the gun’s magazine tube.  The boy apparently racked one of those shells into the chamber before he fired the gun.

State police have offered safety suggestions for parents that own guns with children in the house, including keeping guns unloaded and out of reach and using gun locks and gun safes.