5 YEAR OLD GIRL ACCIDENTALLY SHOOTS SELF IN HEAD, DIES FROM WOUND (2173 hits)
(CNN) -- A 5-year-old girl in New Orleans died Sunday after, police believe, she accidentally shot herself in the head.
The case will be reviewed by the district attorney's office and charges may be forthcoming, the New Orleans Police Department said in a statement.
Earlier, they had said that the girl's mother faced a charge of second-degree murder.
Officers responded to a report of a child shot late Sunday morning. They found the girl in a bedroom, suffering from a gunshot wound to the head. She was transferred to a hospital but later died from her injury.
Kids and guns: 'These are not isolated tragedies'
"A preliminary investigation indicates the child was home alone and had somehow come into contact with a .38-caliber revolver and accidentally shot herself in the head," police said in their statement.
They said the mother told them she locked her daughter in the home while she went to the store. Upon her return, she found the girl in the bedroom with the gunshot wound.
The gun was recovered.
Police have not released the girl's name, pending notification of family members.
What kind of mother leaves a minor child at home alone?
Tuesday, June 25th 2013 at 11:09AM
Truth B. Told
Exactly! And can you believe the mother admitted that this was not the first time she left her daughter at home without adult supervision?
Tuesday, June 25th 2013 at 6:39PM
Siebra Muhammad
i wonder where the hell this mother--excuse me, child--was when they were passing out common sense, didn't this woman know anytime you leave a child under 12 years of age in a house unsupervised, you are setting the tone and climate for them to injure themselves??? i don't understand how she could be so stupid
Friday, June 28th 2013 at 11:05AM
Kemetria 'Kim' Smith
Here's the update...
Mom left daughter at home alone with gun before, authorities say on June 24, 2013 at 4:54 PM updated June 24, 2013 at 10:11 PM
LOUISIANA--Sunday morning was not the first time Laderika Smith left her daughter at home alone, knowing there was a weapon inside, court records show. The woman who police arrested on charges of cruelty to a juvenile after her 5-year-old daughter was found with a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head on Sunday told investigators she had left her daughter at home without supervision in the past while she was out in the neighborhood.
Police said 5-year-old Brandajah Smith was found shot in the head inside the home on Sunday about 11 a.m.
According to the police, Smith told investigators that she had left the house, with her daughter inside, to go to the store. Court records state that Smith chatted with several neighbors before returning home. The record states Smith was gone for about 10 minutes.
Smith told officers that when she returned home she didn't see her daughter immediately, but when she walked into the bedroom, she saw that the closet door was partially open and that there was blood visible on the door frame.
Court records show that Smith then opened the closet door and found little Brandajah on the floor, unconscious, with a large wound to her head. A .38 caliber revolver lay near her body on a comforter inside the closet.
Smith pulled her daughter's body out of the closet and onto the floor of the bedroom before calling 911 for help.
Neighbor Emmanuel Scott, 19, said he heard Smith's anguished cries from inside his home next door. "I heard her screaming, 'My baby is dying,'" Scott said. "She ran out onto the porch and was screaming for help."
When police arrived at the home they rushed the little girl to the hospital where she was listed in critical condition, then pronounced dead later in the afternoon.
Police booked Smith after she admitted she had locked her daughter inside a bedroom alone at the home and that she had done so in the past. Smith also told detectives that she was aware that there was a gun inside the house and that she had seen it on several occasions.
The gun was often kept underneath a pillow on the bed inside the room where the child was left, or on a shelf inside the closet where she was found, investigators said.
Police arrested Smith and booked her on charges of cruelty to a juvenile after determining that she had acted in a criminally negligent manner when she left her daughter alone in the house, knowing there was a gun present.
A statement released by NOPD on Sunday night originally stated that Smith was also booked with second-degree murder; police on Monday morning backed off that statement and said that she has been booked only with cruelty to a juvenile, and that additional charges are pending a review from the district attorney's office.
According to Louisiana law, a person can be charged with second-degree murder without displaying specific intent to kill if the death occurs while the suspect in question is engaged in another violent crime, such as rape, armed robbery, kidnapping or cruelty to a juvenile.
Smith is currently being held in lieu of a $20,000 bond, according to the the Orleans Parish sheriff's website.
According to the sheriff's website, Smith is no stranger to the criminal justice system: She has been arrested several times on charges including theft, criminal damage to property and prostitution.
Friday, June 28th 2013 at 11:12AM
Siebra Muhammad
This woman deserves everything coming to her. Why in the hell did this woman leave her 5 YEAR OLD child at home alone, knowing there was a gun present that the child could get easy access to? Why didn't she store the gun in a place out of the reach of children? Better yet, why didn't she take her daughter to the store with her?
Damn shame this child lost her life over something her mother could have easily prevented. She knew it was unsafe for her child to be home alone without adult supervision. She didn't care.
Friday, June 28th 2013 at 11:16AM
Siebra Muhammad
this mother told detectives that she was aware that there was a gun inside the house and that she had seen it on several occasions???
this story has premeditated murder written all over it
YOU KNOW ME AND OUR JUSTICE SYSTEM...ALL BLACK CHILDREN DEATHBY GUNS OUT SIDE OF THE STREETS OF CHICAGO MUST BE KNOWN...AND I AM SURE BECAUSE THIS MOTHER IS BLACK SHEWILL NOT BE TREATED THE SAME A CASEY ANTONY'S CASE THT DID NOT EEN HAVE A CHARGE OF CILD NEGLECT OR INDANGERMENTS DISPITE THIS CHILD WAS MISSING AND THE MOTHER GOT TOTALLY AWAY WITH COVERING UP SHE WAS OUT PARTYING AND HAD NO IDEA WHERE HER CILD WAS SO SHEJUST DISTROYED HT LIFE OF THE LADY WITH THE ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT LOOK BY SYAING SHE HAD LEFT HIER CHILD WITH HER AND IF TINGS LIKE TIS WAS BETTER KNOW IT CCULD GO A LONG WAY IN TIS CILD' MOTHER AT LEAST GETTING HER FAIR DAY I NCOURT!!! IN A NATIN WHER WE ANNO LONGER VOTE!!! (S-M-I-L-E)
Thursday, April 10th 2014 at 6:47PM
ROBINSON IRMA
ANYOE REMEMBER THE CASE OF THE AMERICA KNOWING A IWTE MOTHER WOUD NEVER CAUSE THE DEATH OF HER TWO SONS...SO THEY GLADLY WENT OUR LOOKING FOR A BLACK MAN WHO HAD CARJACKED HER TWO SONS AND TIS IS WHY THEY ENEDED UP IN HER CAR DROWNED...
LETS SEE IN THEREAL WORLD S KILLED HER SONE SO SHE COULD HAVE HER BOSS'S SON WNAT HER MORE HATN A BOODY CALL AS HE DIDNOTLIKE CHILDREN!!!!!!!!!!...YES, THIS BLOG HAS ME CLIMBING TH EAWLL AND YET I AM GREATFUL FOR THE NEWS AS I CAN NOT MAKE CONTACTS THAT CAN COME TO HER AIDE UNDER CIVIL RIGHTS LAWS. (SMILE)
Thursday, April 10th 2014 at 6:47PM
ROBINSON IRMA
