Mother booked with second-degree murder after self-inflicted gunshot wound leaves 5-year-old dead

[Omaha Steve]

Last edited Sun Jun 23, 2013, 10:07 PM - Edit history (1)

Source: The Times-Picayune

(UPDATE) By Danielle Bell,

New Orleans police have booked a 28-year-old St. Roch woman with second-degree murder after her 5-year-old daughter died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound she suffered Sunday morning in her home.

According to police spokesperson Hilal Williams, the young girl was taken off life support and died late Sunday afternoon. The child's name has not been released by police.

Police booked Laderika Smith after she admitted she locked her daughter inside a bedroom alone at their home in the 2200 block of North Galvez Street while the mother went to the store. When she returned home, Smith found her daughter lying on the bedroom floor with a gunshot wound to the head. Police arrived about 11 a.m. and the child was transported to the hospital.


Relatives of a A 5-year-old New Orleans girl who died Sunday afternoon after being shot in the head Sunday morning at her home, sit on the stairs at a home in the 2200 block of North Galvez Street, where the shooting occurred on June 23, 2013. The girl's name has not been released. (Photo by Kathleen Flynn, Nola.com / The Times-Picayune)

FULL breaking story at NOLA link.




Original post: http://www.cnn.com/2013/06/23/us/louisiana-girl-dead/index.html

(CNN) -- A 5-year-old girl in New Orleans died Sunday after, police believe, she accidentally shot herself in the head.

The girl's mother faces a second-degree murder charge, the New Orleans Police Department said in a statement.

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.

"A preliminary investigation indicates the child was home alone and had somehow come into contact with a .38 revolver and accidentally shot herself in the head," police said in their statement.

FULL story at link.


Read more: http://www.nola.com/crime/index.ssf/2013/06/mother_booked_with_cruelty_aft.html

[Lugal Zaggesi]

1. Gun owners

are always mystified as to how kids find the guns they carefully hid under the socks in the top drawer or on the top shelf of the closet, which would actually require moving a chair over to reach it.

Yeah, the chances of that are about 1 in 100 quadrillion, amirite ?

[Psephos]

2. Yet, if the child drowned in the bathtub, we wouldn't even know about it.

Such a drowning would be many times more likely, too.

[Lugal Zaggesi]

10. I bet bathtub drownings are not that common

But rest assured you'll be told about them, if they occur:

http://www.wtae.com/news/local/homicide-charge-refiled-in-bathtub-drowning-of-boy/-/9681086/18991018/-/qbfmaa/-/index.html

http://www.wbtw.com/story/22111366/mom-charged-after-baby-drowns-in-bathtub-nc-police-say

http://newsok.com/2-year-old-boy-drowns-in-bathtub-in-oklahoma-city/article/3807482

But you're right, it seems like the tsunami of gun deaths drown out news on all the niche deaths out there.

Remember when President Bush almost died, choking on pretzel ?
If he wasn't an ex-alcoholic, just 3 months removed from the huge 9/11 screwup, and President,
a "death from pretzel" story would have been buried on page 37 of some local newspaper.

[NickB79]

3. Good. As one of DU's "pro-gun" members, I fully support this

If you can't take the basic steps to secure your firearms (ie a $10 cable lock, often given out free by local police stations), be prepared to be prosecuted for the consequences of your inaction.

[jberryhill]

4. Going to jail will certainly teach her a lesson

[NickB79]

5. People need to secure their firearms properly

Mine are locked up so that my 3-yr old cannot access them, their magazines, or the ammo that feeds them.

If this woman drove drunk and crashed her car with her child inside, and the child died, she'd be just as liable IMO.

[awoke_in_2003]

7. Well, it may stop her...

from procreating for a while. Stupid people are dangerous around kids.

[Rowdyboy]

6. When my goddaughter was 3, she found her dad's marijuana stash by going under a coffee table and

prying her way into a drawer from the back (the front was kept locked). Children are able to get into anything we adults come u with.

What a sad, sad story

[JustAnotherGen]

8. Is this how

Louisiana always handles these cases? From what I've seen lately - parents aren't even charged with being negligent. Thinking TN and here in NJ. It's not even a slap on the wrist.

Any LA DU'ers with local/state knowledge?

[Nonhlanhla]

9. Seriously negligent

This woman deserves to go to jail. She locked her child in the bedroom when she went to the store? She could not take the child with her? (I have an otherwise wonderful 4 year old who is a real pain in the patootie in a grocery store, but I would never dream of leaving her at home when I go shopping, no matter how inconvenient it is to have her running around and complaining about being in the grocery store.) And she did not lock up the gun? Amazing how utterly negligent that is. My condolences on her loss, but really, that is just shockingly bad parental care.