A four-year-old girl in Tampa, a city in Florida, has died after accidentally shooting herself in the chest while looking for candy in her grandmother's purse.

Yanelly Zoller was at her grandparents' home in North Tampa on Sept 14, when the unfortunate incident occurred, reported local media Tampa Bay Times.

According to her father Shane Zoller, 22, the girl reached into the purse but found a gun instead, and accidentally fired it into her own chest.

"She just wanted some candy," he told Tampa Bay Times on Wednesday (Sept 20).

Tampa police are investigating the incident.

"I was driving to pick her up with her bathing suit in my car to take her to the splash pads," Mr Zoller recounted.

"When I pulled up, that's when I saw all the police lights."

Mr Zoller shared custody of Yenelly with her mother.

He said that Yenelly was extremely close to her grandparents Michael and Christie Zoller, and was excited every time she got to stay over at their place.

The family is currently raising funds for Yenelly's funeral costs on crowdfunding sites, including GoFundMe.com where US$2,355 (S$3,177) of its US$5,000 target had been raised as of Friday afternoon.