A child died of a gunshot wound on Saturday at a popular campground in Yellowstone National Park, according to park officials, who said the girl's mother reported that her young daughter had shot herself with a handgun. 
 
 Emergency responders were unable to resuscitate the girl after her mother called emergency dispatchers from a campsite near Yellowstone Lake, park spokesman Al Nash said in a statement. 
 
 The names of the mother and girl in the incident, which is under investigation, were not released pending notification of extended family members, Nash said. The child's age was also not released. 
 
 A U.S. law that took effect in 2010 allowed people to carry guns into national parks as long as federal, state and local firearms laws were met, according to the National Park Service. 
 
 Although hunting is permitted at a handful of national parks, including Grand Teton in Wyoming, hunting or even firing a gun is unlawful in Yellowstone, according to park literature. 
 
 The forested campsite where the shooting occurred sits near a developed area in the Wyoming section of the park known as Grant Village, which features a ranger station, lodge, stores and other amenities. 
 
 Yellowstone, which was the first area designated a U.S. national park and is among the country's most popular outdoor destinations, spans 2.2 million acres of pine forests, river valleys, mountain lakes and geysers in parts of Wyoming, Montana and Idaho, and attracts about 3 million visitors a year. 
 
 (Reporting by Laura Zuckerman in Salmon, Idaho; Editing by Sharon Bernstein and Peter Cooney) 

 Yellowstone National Park officials are investigating after an Idaho woman reported her 3-year-old daughter shot herself with a handgun in a campground. 
 
 Park rangers responded Saturday morning to Grant Village Campground, but resuscitation efforts failed, resulting in what officials said was the first shooting death in the park since 1978. 
 
 Park spokesman Al Nash said Sunday that part of the campground remained cordoned off while park rangers and special park agents conduct the investigation. He said he didn't know where the girl's body was taken. 
 
 "We don't have all of the information, and we haven't drawn any conclusions," Nash said. 
 
 He said he didn't know how many family members were camping or where they are from in Idaho. Names haven't been released. 
 
 A federal law went into effect Feb. 22, 2010, allowing visitors to possess firearms in the park. Nash said records show two shooting deaths occurred in the park in 1978, but he didn't have details. 
 
 "Given the 3 million visitors we see here every year, there thankfully are very few fatalities reported in the park," Nash said. He said heart attacks were the primary cause of human deaths in the park. 
 
 The park recently reported that through August, about 2.5 million people have visited the park. 
 
 Portions of the park are within the borders of Wyoming, Idaho and Montana, with the girl's death occurring in Wyoming. Nash said park authorities have exclusive federal jurisdiction because the park predates the formation of those states, but works with surrounding law enforcement agencies. That means park rangers and special park agents are leading the investigation, he said. 
 
 The park has a federal district court, a federal magistrate, and an assistant U.S. attorney based in Mammoth Hot Springs, Nash said. 
 
 Visitation to the park starts winding down this time of year, but is also favored by some for that reason, as well as the opportunity to see bugling bull elk as well as other wildlife that can be more visible in cooler weather.
– Tragedy in Yellowstone National Park: A 3-year-old girl has died in the park's first fatal shooting in more than 30 years, officials say. The girl's mother has told investigators that the child shot herself with a handgun at a campground in the Wyoming section of the park Saturday, Reuters reports. Park rangers were unable to resuscitate the girl, whose identity is being withheld at the Idaho family's request. The campground has been cordoned off while rangers investigate. Park officials say the last shooting death recorded in the park was in 1978. "Given the 3 million visitors we see here every year, there thankfully are very few fatalities reported in the park," a park spokesman tells the AP, adding that the leading cause of death in Yellowstone is heart attacks. A law passed in 2010 allows visitors to carry guns into national parks, but hunting or even firing a gun is still illegal in Yellowstone.