New Orleans: 5-year-old girl fatally shoots self after finding gun

USPA News - A 5-year-old girl left home alone Sunday while her mother went to the store found a shotgun and fatally shot herself in the head, police said on Monday. The mother is expected to be charged with second degree murder due to her negligence.

The incident happened just before 11 a.m. local time on Sunday at a residence in New Orleans, the largest city in the state of Louisiana. Responding officers located the 5-year-old girl in a bedroom and she was transported to a local hospital, where she later died after several hours on life support. "She was taken off of life support a short while ago and succumbed to her injury," said Officer Hilal Williams of the New Orleans Police Department. "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." Records from the Orleans Parish Sheriff`s Office show the child`s mother, identified as Laderika Smith, was celebrating her 28th birthday on Sunday. She told officers that she had locked her daughter inside the residence for "a short period of time" while she went to a store in the area. "Upon her return, she located the child lying on the bedroom floor with a gunshot wound to the head. Smith did confess to having a gun inside the home," said Williams. Smith was initially booked on one count of Cruelty to a Juvenile but the charge is expected to be upgraded to Second Degree Murder after the child died.