A 3-year-old girl died after another child got hold of an unsecured gun and shot her on the Fourth of July.
Little Rock Police officers responded to an unknown trouble call at 12614 Saint Charles Blvd. at 4:42 p.m., July 4, where they found a minor suffering from an apparent gunshot wound, according to an LRPD release.
Police called the incident “an accidental shooting involving two minors.”
Emergency services took the child to a local hospital. She was placed in critical care but died from her injuries.
The Pulaski County coroner took the body to the Arkansas State Crime Lab for an autopsy.
Investigating LRPD detectives interviewed Chandra Wilson, 40; James Wilson, 49; and an unnamed 6-year-old. The police report does not indicate what the relationships are among them.
While we don’t yet know many details about the child’s death, we know it didn’t have to happen.
Anna Morshedi, local lead for Greater Little Rock Moms Demand Action, said deaths like this one are preventable.
“We know that firearms are now the leading cause of death among children in the United States, as well as right here in Arkansas,” Morshedi said. “That is why our group is focusing, now more than ever, to educate parents and caregivers to know how to secure their firearms and keep their families and communities safe.”
“Right now, Arkansas ranks 50th in the country for the strength of our gun laws in comparison to the rate of our gun deaths, which shows us that we have none of the most important laws on the books for keeping our community safe from gun violence,” Morshedi said.
She encouraged people to get more comfortable with talking about firearms and firearm storage, especially when minors are involved.
“Secure firearm storage is a very important part of keeping your family safe,” Morshedi said. “We know that children are curious, and it’s the adults responsibility to make sure that we have an environment that is going to be safe for children no matter where they are.
“It’s so important for parents to normalize the conversation of asking before their child visits another home, checking to see if there is a firearm in the house. If it is unloaded, locked, separate from the ammunition,” Morshedi said. “That is the first step in this process of ending gun violence in our community.”
Police have not released any updates in the investigation into the July 4 shooting and no charges have been filed. The investigation is ongoing.
This is the 21st homicide of 2024 in Little Rock and the third where the victim was a minor, according to the city’s crime statistics.