Father charged after 3-year-old boy accidentally shoots, kills mother in Dolton

DOLTON, Ill. (CBS) -- A 3-year-old boy accidentally shot and killed his mother in Dolton over the weekend, police said.

At 5:30 p.m. Saturday, Dolton police were called to the Food for Less parking lot at 100 E. Sibley Blvd. for a person shot. They found Daejah Bennett, 22, unresponsive in the front passenger seat of a car, police said.

Bennett was with her 3-year-old son and the boy's father.

Police determined that the 3-year-old somehow got a hold of his father's gun and started playing with it in the car. At some point, the boy pulled the trigger and shot his mother in the back, police said.

Bennett was pronounced dead at an area hospital.

The boy's father, Romell Watson, 23, of Dolton, will face a misdemeanor charge of unlawful use of a weapon, police said. Watson was legally entitled to own the gun, but he transported it in a car in a way that is not legal, police said.

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