A 14-year-old Philadelphia teen shot their toddler cousin in the head Thursday, killing the little girl.
The 2-year-old girl was rushed to Temple University Hospital, but did not survive the wound, KYW reported.
“It doesn’t appear like there was any malicious intent or anything of that sort,” Philadelphia Police Sgt. Eric Gripp said.
The teen somehow gained access to a loaded, unsecured handgun inside the house in the Brewerytown neighborhood and fired at least once, hitting the toddler.
Sources told KYW the gun belongs to a grandparent of one of the children in the house. Police are investigating whether it was legally owned.
“We need to find out what the status of the weapon is, where exactly the weapon was and all the circumstances behind it,” Gripp said.
Gripp said there were four adults and four children in the house at the time of the shooting, all believed to be related. The children are 14, 9, 2, and 1.
Read Related Also: Mistrial declared in double murder case against rapper YNW Melly
A woman sho asked not to be identified said she saw a neighbor run out of the house holding the toddler and screaming for help.
“Lifeless in her hands. Lifeless. Lifeless. Her eyes — Lifeless,” said the woman, who called 911 and then flagged down a driver and asked the man behind the wheel to drive the girl and her mom to the hospital. She didn’t get his name.
Gripp said the shooting took place just before noon, WPVI reported.
“How many times this year have been standing out here and talking about the issue of unsecured firearms and what this can lead to?” asked Gripp, adding, again, that gun locks are available free of charge from the sheriff’s office.
For the latest true crime and justice news, subscribe to the ‘Crime Stories with Nancy Grace’ podcast.
[Featured image: Shutterstock]
!function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s){if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod?
n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;
n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version=’2.0′;n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;
t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window,
document,’script’,’
fbq(‘init’, ‘249856382045099’);
fbq(‘track’, “PageView”);
