Terrelle S. Jackson (Marion County Sheriff’s Office) and the home where a 6-year-old allegedly used his gun to kill his 4-year-old sister (YouTube: WTHR screenshot)
A 25-year-old man in Indiana has been arrested after an unsecured handgun he allegedly left in a house full of young children was grabbed by a 6-year-old boy who accidentally shot and killed his 4-year-old sister.
Terrelle S. Jackson was taken into custody earlier this month and charged with one count of neglect of a dependent causing death, a level 1 felony, over the July slaying of young Deor Neita, authorities announced.
According to a press release from the Cumberland Metropolitan Police Department, officers responded to a 911 call at about 4:39 p.m. on July 5 about a possible child shot at a residence in the 600 block of Woodlark Drive in Cumberland, Indiana. When first responders arrived less than three minutes later, they heard screams from the second story and immediately entered.
Once inside, police said they found Deor suffering from a gunshot wound to the head. Emergency crews attempted life-saving measures, but Deor succumbed to her injury and died there.
Police began questioning several witnesses, including several children under the age of 6 who were questioned by forensic child interviewers.
“During those interviews, it was discovered four children, ages six and younger, had located a firearm in an upstairs bedroom. It is believed the children had prior knowledge the firearm was kept there and whom it belonged to,” police wrote in the release. “The firearm was loaded with an extended magazine and did not have a gunlock or safety enabled. The four children then proceeded to play with the firearm in a separate upstairs bedroom when a six-year-old male child accidentally fired the weapon, striking his four-year-old sister, Deor.”
Police emphasized that investigators do not believe the 6-year-old intended to harm his sister, nor did he have “the understanding of the devastation a firearm can create.”
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Cumberland Police Chief Suzanne Woodland told the Indianapolis Star that the children’s great-great-grandmother was at home watching them while their mother was at work, which she said was not unusual. The older woman said she had just been in the room cleaning and did not see a gun.
“These are babies still,” Woodland said. “It’s awful. It’s tragic.”
The chief also emphasized that this should be a “wake-up call” to any gun owner not practicing safe firearm storage.
Following the investigation, detectives say they determined that Jackson owned the firearm used to kill the child. At the time of the shooting, Jackson was living in the house, and he and the victim’s mother were the parents of one of the children there at the time.
According to police, Jackson was legally prohibited from possessing a firearm at the time of the shooting, and his “alleged intentional failure to properly secure a loaded firearm in a home with six small children directly contributed to the death of Deor Neita.”
Authorities issued a warrant for his arrest on Aug. 15, and he was taken into custody on Sept. 8 and processed into the Marion County Jail.
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