Girl in critical condition after being shot by 3-year-old brother in Washington DC, police say
A 5-year-old girl is clinging to life after police in Washington D.C. say her 3-year-old brother grabbed an unsecured gun from inside the family's home and shot her while playing with it.
At least two people have been arrested in connection to the shooting at an apartment complex in the southwest part of the city near the Maryland state line, the Metropolitan Police Department confirmed to Paste BN on Tuesday.
According to a news release, officers responded to an apartment about 6:30 p.m. Monday and found the 5-year-old girl suffering from a gunshot wound in the chest. Officers provided life-saving measures, police said, and the child was taken to a local hospital.
On Tuesday, police spokesperson Makhetha Watson told Paste BN the shooting victim was in stable condition with critical injuries.
Babysitter charged with first-degree child cruelty, firearm offenses
According to a preliminary investigation, the children's mother left them in their apartment in the care of a family friend, 59-year-old Darrell Graham. Police arrested Graham at the scene on first-degree child cruelty charges.
A search warrant was executed on the apartment early Tuesday morning, police said, and officers recovered the firearm used in the accidental shooting and recovered ammunition. The firearm was determined to be a ghost gun. As a result of the detectives’ investigation, D’Jaunae McCrory Jackson, 21, was also charged with negligent storage of a firearm, prohibited possession of certain dangerous weapons, and other gun-related charges including having an unregistered firearm.
'We cannot talk about gun safety enough'
At the scene, the release continues, police also arrested an older sibling of the two children for allegedly assaulting a police officer.
Jackson was charged with simple assault on a police officer, according to the release.
"It's such an unfortunate incident," Metropolitan Police Department Chief Pamela Smith said during a press conference late Monday. "We cannot talk about gun safety enough. Again when we have firearms in our homes there's an expectation that we are to keep our firearms locked up especially away from our children."
The shooting remained under investigation Tuesday.
How to store guns around children
According to a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, nearly half of unintentional firearm injury deaths among children and adolescents from 2003 to 2021 took place at home while juveniles played with a firearm or showed the firearm to another person.
"Overall, firearms used in unintentional injury deaths were often stored both loaded and unlocked and were commonly accessed from nightstands and other sleeping areas," the report reads.
The California Attorney General's Office warns that firearms should be stored in a locked container and locked with a firearms safety device. Ammunition should be stored separately, and gun owners should never leave a firearm "lying around the house."
Natalie Neysa Alund is a senior reporter for Paste BN. Reach her at nalund@usatoday.com and follow her on X @nataliealund.