JEWETT CITY, Conn. -- Police are investigating whether a toddler used a gun stored beneath a pillow in a Jewett City home in what is being called an accidental shooting.

Lt. Paul Vance of the state police said that 2-year-old Wyatt Matteau died after shooting himself in the face with his parents' gun.

Wyatt was airlifted to Hartford Hospital after the shooting at a home on Green Avenue at about 9:30 a.m, Vance said.

The boy's parents were home with Wyatt and their infant daughter, police said, but Wyatt was alone in a room when the shooting occurred.

The infant was staying with a relative on Thursday, police said, and the state Department of Children and Family.

"A 2-year-old got hold of his parents' gun," said neighbor Laure Magee. "It was under a pillow in the bedroom and he shot himself in the eye."

Magee said the boy's mother was outside screaming following the shooting. Police said both of the boy's parents were home at the time.

"She was screaming and screaming and my friend Dawn, who lives across the street, told me that the baby had shot himself," Magee said.

Wyatt was transported via ambulance to Backus Hospital and was then airlifted to Hartford Hospital, where he died at about 11 a.m.

The home remained roped off by members of the state police Major Crime Squad for much of the day Thursday. Channel 3 Eyewitness News reporter Aleesha Chaney reported that the family was taken away from the area in a police cruiser.

"It's the scariest thing -- especially knowing that you have little babies and you have your guns not locked up," said Magee. "It's horrible."