A toddler fatally shot a woman while she was on a work-related video call, police in Florida have said.

Shamaya Lynn, 21, reportedly fell backwards and never returned to the Zoom call after the young child found an unsecured, loaded handgun inside the apartment.

Altamonte Springs police said someone on the video call rang 911 after seeing the toddler in the background and hearing a noise.

“Officers and paramedics did their best in rendering aid to Mrs Lynn, but she was found with a fatal gunshot wound to the head,” police said.

Investigators said the handgun belonged to the father of the victim’s two young children and neither child was injured.

The case is under investigation, and no charges have yet been filed.

“If you own a firearm, please keep it locked and secured,” police officer Roberto Ruiz Jr said.

“Incidents like this could be avoided.”

The police statement did not identify the relationship between the woman and toddler, but WESH television of Orlando reported that officers said she was the toddler’s mother.

There were at least 369 unintentional shootings by children under 18 in the US last year, with 142 deaths, according to the gun control advocacy group Everytown for Gun Safety.

In February, a 25-year-old mother of five in North Carolina was inadvertently shot and killed after her children found a gun in her purse, police in the town of Cornelius said.

And in April, a three-year-old boy in Houston found an unsecured firearm and fatally shot his eight-month-old brother, police said.

Altamonte Springs is a city of around 43,800 just north of Orlando in Florida.