DETROIT (WXYZ) — A 4-year-old is in the hospital suffering from critical injuries Friday after being shot twice by her own mother.
Detroit police said it was accidental and the mother claims to have been cleaning her gun when it discharged.
However, investigators said the mother initially made up a story to shift blame.
Police said the incident happened on Brush Street near East Grand Boulevard around 3 p.m.
“Well, I hate that it happened here because I’ve known this family my whole life,” a building tenant told 7 Action News.
“The mother, I helped when she was just a kid herself, when she was a little baby. The whole family is like my family,” he added.
The neighbor, who asked to remain anonymous, said he was surprised to see police in and around the building sometime after he came home.
“We’re going through a lot of information right now. The way that the call came in from the hospital, and we’re trying to make everything line up with what the mom is telling us,” Detroit Police Department Chief James White said.
White said the woman initially told detectives a man tried to snatch her purse as she and her 4-year-old daughter entered their apartment. After fighting him off, the woman claimed the man fired multiple shots, which hit the little girl and then he fled the scene in a pickup truck.
“Regardless of how this story comes together, the bottom line is we’ve got a 4-year-old baby that’s shot at this house,” the chief said.
Police said the story came together about 30 minutes after the press conference with the chief. Authorities told 7 Action News the woman admitted there was no attempted purse snatching, no robber and that she, herself, shot her child twice by accident while cleaning her gun.
“She’s a nice little girl. Nobody deserves a bullet. Nobody,” the neighbor said.
Police said the child is expected to survive.
The mother was taken into custody. No weapon has been recovered as of Friday night.
