A 3-year-old boy in suburban Chicago found a gun in his family’s car and accidentally fired it, killing his young mother who was sitting in the front seat, police said.
Authorities announced that the father of the toddler has been charged with misdemeanor weapons counts following Saturday’s tragic accident in a Food4Less lot in Dolton. This happened just after the family went grocery shopping.
Officials say the child discovered a pistol that belonged to his father, and began playing with it in a back seat. When he pulled the trigger, a bullet hit his 22-year-old mom, Daejah Bennett, in the back, Dolton Police Chief Robert Collins told Inside Edition Digital on Tuesday.
Collins reported that Rommell Watson, a father of three, was released from custody after he was charged with unlawfully using a weapon.
“He was legally entitled to own the gun, however, he transported the weapon in a vehicle in a manner not prescribed by law,”The chief spoke.
Hours after the shooting, Bennet was declared dead at University of Chicago Medical Center.
“We’re trying to get trauma counseling for (the child) and his family because he’s going to need it the rest of his life,”Andrew Holmes, community activist and trustee of Dolton village. “That life changed within a second.”
Holmes gave out 400 gun locks Sunday at the scene of the shooting in the supermarket parking lot. “Children are getting these guns more often now because they roll out from under the seat, or they go in the pouch and pick it up,” Holmes said. “If you’re going to put them in the car, lock them down.”
Officials claim that gun sales have increased dramatically since the COVID-19 epidemic. It takes just a few seconds to lock the trigger.
“Unlock it, thread it through the barrel, bring it back around, put it in and lock it back,”Holmes spoke to the shoppers while distributing the safety devices.
“This could have been prevented.”
